On Tuesday Illinois lawmakers will be in session with one of the major topics being congressional redistricting. The process is done following each census, Illinois will lose one seat, going from 18 seats to 17 seats, because of a decline in population.
 
University of Illinois political science professor Brian Gaines sees the proposed democratic-constructed map as a way to maximize the number of seats ahead of a tight, nationwide race for the U.S. House.
 
“In a state where Democrats control everything they feel like they’re getting pressure from, it’s not Nancy Pelosi drawing the map but she’s going to look over her shoulder and think ‘we’re going to need all the Illinois seats we can get, draw me a map that gets me 14 Illinois Democrats if you can do it,’” Gaines said, “Getting the Democrats together is a function of trying to squeeze 14 or even 13 seats out of a 17-seat delegation in a state that’s pretty Democratic but not that Democratic, it’s not an 80% Democratic state.”
 
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