When Democrats redrew the legislative maps in 2021, good government advocates, observers, jamokes like me, and, of course, Republicans, complained the gerrymandered maps would reduce competition and provide worse representation for taxpayers in the General Assembly over the next decade.
Read MoreTwo years ago, one of the most shocking electoral surprises came in the Metro East, when unknown, underfunded Millstadt chiropractor Kevin Schmidt defeated incumbent Rep. LaToya Greenwood in the traditionally Democratic, East St. Louis-based district.
Read MoreGovernor JB Pritzker has begun to put his thumb on the scales of legislative races across the state, sending a late cash infusion to House and Senate Democrats up and down the state.
Read MoreIn 2022, Sen. Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) won his re-election campaign against political newcomer Philip Nagel by about ten points.
Read MoreAs jury selection begins in the corruption trial of longtime former House Speaker Michael Madigan, it isn’t yet clear if Republican campaigns will return to one of their favorite messaging villains for the final four weeks of the fall campaign.
Read MoreIn a narrow path for Republicans to gain any seats in the Illinois House this fall, they need candidates who can outperform the party in recent election cycles and “steal” a seat or two, as one GOP operative described it to us last week.
Read MoreThe Illinois Department of Corrections appears to have met a judge’s order to remove all prisoners from the Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet.
Read MoreHere’s a rundown of some of the things we’re hearing around the state as campaign season prepares to turn to October:
Read MoreCourt filings indicate a former Democratic State Senator-turned-lobbyist from Chicago’s west side and a longtime GOP insider and lobbyist were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit sharing by a state vendor.
Read MoreOne of the most vulnerable House Republicans in the November election will not be receiving assistance from the House GOP campaign arm, leaving him vastly underfunded in a district Democrats could pump millions into to flip the seat.
Read MoreThe GOP nominee for Governor of North Carolina has reportedly "cancelled" an appearance in Lake County after reports surfaced he called himself a "Black Nazi" in an online posting.
Read MoreAfter outcry from police, prosecutors, lawmakers, and others when the Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed a flawed version of the SAFE-T Act in early 2021, many of those groups came together to begin negotiating a replacement to the law.
Read MoreThis will not look great for Republicans, as you may imagine, but not every GOP insider is shaking in their loafers.
Read MoreIf there’s an expectation of what issue may dominate the spring legislative session in 2025, many believe it will be a pending fiscal cliff for Chicago-area mass transit agencies.
Read MoreIf Democrats are going to expand on their 78-seat majority in the House of Representatives, they need to pick up some slightly Republican leaning districts.
Read MoreAs the calendar turns to September and the “traditional” start of the fall campaign season, big money has started to flow into legislative races.
Read MoreThe first two television ads of the fall campaign are up in vastly different forms.
Read MoreArrogance seems to be Governor JB Pritzker’s default position every time he’s posed a questions about the rights of legal gun owners in the state.
Read MoreHouse Democrats are launching a working group made up entirely of Democratic members from the city and suburbs to address a coming fiscal cliff for mass transit agencies in Illinois, once again leaving Republicans out of the process.
Read MoreThe LaSalle-Peru-Ottawa based 76th District has long been one of the swingiest House districts in the state. Republicans often targeted then-Rep. Frank Mautino for defeat, who held on to his seat by just some 300 votes in 2014 before he was appointed Auditor General in 2015.
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