Illinois Congressional Jujitsu

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

although the Illinois maps are heavily partisan and something that they normally wouldn't do, its something that they MUST do due to the fact that republicans will try to guarantee themselves a majority for the next 10 years so the democrats have to level the playing field.

...why would a heavily partisan map be something Illinois wouldn't do? The only reason why the last couple Illinois maps weren't gerrymanders is because Illinois had a pretty long string of GOP governors (1977–2003).

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

My bad. In that case, the GOP did a horrible job with the map 10 years ago. I'll also complain about future partisan gerrymanders in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and wherever else they may occur.

Democrats still controlled the lower house in 2001, so redistricting was a compromise affair. In that light, the last set of lines served Republicans quite well.