Davis Statement on Gov. Pritzker Lying To Voters, Breaking Redistricting Veto Pledge Today

Press Release

U.S. Representative Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) issued the following statement after Governor J.B. Pritzker today signaled he would break his veto pledge and sign a legislative redistricting map drawn by Democratic lawmakers in the General Assembly:

"Governor Pritzker lied to people of Illinois, plain and simple. When he was a candidate for Governor in 2018, Pritzker made an ironclad promise to voters that he would veto any redistricting proposal that was drawn by legislators. That turned out to be a lie. Now that he's in power and the Democrats have maintained their supermajority control of the General Assembly, Pritzker is enabling a partisan redistricting process that will be used to tighten his party's grip on power for another decade. That's wrong, and it's not what the people of Illinois want. Governor Pritzker has turned out to be the latest failed, self-serving, Illinois politician who lied his way into office by saying one thing to voters and doing another once in office."

You can watch a video from today of the Governor's response to WCIA 3's Mark Maxwell's redistricting question here. Governor Pritzker now says his pledge was to "veto an unfair map," but that is not true.

In 2018, then-candidate for governor J.B. Pritzker was asked this redistricting question by Capitol Fax's Rich Miller: "This requires only a simple yes or no response: Will you pledge as governor to veto any state legislative redistricting map proposal that is in any way drafted or created by legislators, political party leaders and/or their staffs or allies? The exception, of course, would be the final official draft by LRB."

Pritzker's response: "Yes, I will pledge to veto. We should amend the constitution to create an independent commission to draw legislative maps, but in the meantime, I would urge Democrats and Republicans to agree to an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map. That designated body should reflect the gender, racial, and geographic diversity of the state and look to preserve the Voting Rights Act decisions to ensure racial and language minorities are fully represented in the electoral process."

From a Capitol Fax post from today titled, Pritzker mischaracterizes his own 2018 remap veto pledge, also claims 2011 remap had a "very strong leaning toward fairness": "The Illinois Constitution does not need to be changed to create a fair map process. It can be done by statute or even a joint resolution of both chambers. And while Pritzker preferred a constitutional amendment in 2018, he clearly didn't predicate an independent commission on an amendment."

Earlier this month, Rep. Davis joined State Reps. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) and Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) in Springfield to urge Gov. Pritzker to keep his word and veto a redistricting map drawn by lawmakers.

Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly have proposed an independent redistricting commission that would empower the Illinois Supreme Court to appoint 16 citizen commissioners to determine the legislative district boundaries. Rep. Davis supports the use of an independent redistricting commission to draw state legislative and Congressional district boundaries.

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