Hakeem Jeffries’ Push To Redistrict Blue State Hits Major ‘Brick Wall’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s effort to convince Illinois Democrats to redraw congressional district maps is not going the way he planned. In fact, he’s facing strong resistance from his own party.

Behind the scenes, Jeffries has been trying to get leaders in deep-blue states to draw up new maps ahead of the 2026 midterms to combat President Donald Trump’s GOP redistricting moves in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana. However, Democrats in Illinois aren’t big fans of the idea.

“I think there is next to zero appetite to do it,” one Democratic state House lawmaker said in comments given to Capitol News Illinois. Another lawmaker said, “There is no world where I see this happening.”

Jeffries made a last-minute plea to add redistricting to the agenda before lawmakers end their fall session next week. The main reason Democrats in the state are not on board with Jeffries is because of the candidate petition filing deadline for the March primary, which is November 3.

Lawmakers would be forced to either push back the primary or change ballot rules. Another stumbling block for Jeffries is the opposition from the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, which is concerned that a new map could dilute minority voting power by spreading Black voters across districts.

“We’re going to fight back,” Democrat state Sen. Willie Preston said during an interview with Punchbowl News on Wednesday. “We just won’t do so at the expense of our own power.”

Back in August, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said redrawing maps was an option “on the table,” but seemed less committed to that path this week. He said that Democrats shouldn’t have to sit on the sidelines, adding that any redistricting decision is up to the legislature.

Pritzker had previously sworn to veto any partisan maps, going so far as to campaign on amending the state’s constitution to create an independent redistricting commission.

Illinois already has maps considered by most political experts to be the most gerrymandered in the country. Democrats are holding a commanding lead in the state’s congressional delegation, 14-3, after putting in place one of the most partisan maps in the nation in 2021.

That map gave Democrats 82 percent of seats in a state where Vice President Kamala Harris received only 54.37 percent of the vote in the previous election. Illinois also earned an “F” from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project in the categories of political fairness and competition.

The Trump administration has also turned its attention to the Hoosier State as Senate Republicans in Indiana claim they lack the votes to pass mid-cycle redistricting.

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