The Indiana Senate passed a bill to create the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission earlier this week, sending it to Gov. Mike Braun (R-IN) to be signed into law as soon as the state House approves any changes to the bill.
The commission will look into adding 33 counties in Illinois that passed a referendum in favor of seceding from the state. While it is far from guaranteed that the Illinois counties will join Indiana if Braun signs the bill, the commission will open the door to conversations on the matter.
“We all have our own opinions of how good things are here in Indiana, but folks from outside Indiana are eyeballing us,” said Republican state Sen. Scott Baldwin.“We’re just signaling to those Illinois counties that Indiana is open for business and we’d be happy to accept them.”
Baldwin cited lower taxes and a balanced budget as some of the reasons why Illinois residents may prefer to live in Indiana.
Most counties in Illinois vote Republican. In the 2022 gubernatorial election, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) won 12 of the state’s 102 counties. Due to the large population of the heavily Democratic Cook County, however, Pritzker won the election with nearly 55% of the vote. The counties that voted to leave Illinois likely believe the Republican-led state of Indiana can better represent their views.
Illinois joins Oregon as another Democrat-controlled state with a Republican portion looking to secede to another state.
The “Greater Idaho Movement” consists of residents and representatives in the eastern region of Oregon who wish to join Idaho. While it went dormant for a time, the movement picked up steam again earlier this year, and a bill is currently working its way through the Oregon state legislature. If the bill passes, a task force would explore moving the Idaho/Oregon border westward, adding much of the Republican-heavy eastern Oregon to Idaho.
If both proposals go through, Indiana and Idaho would likely gain at least one congressional district each at the expense of Illinois and Oregon, respectively. The balance of power in the House of Representatives would likely be unchanged, however, as the proposal would effectively move a Republican district from one state to another. The move would, however, affect the Electoral College breakdown, as Republicans would likely gain a few more electoral votes.
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While both proposals are long shots to occur, both movements show the increasing partisan divide within states. Especially in the case of Illinois, big cities have the power to dictate policy for the rest of the state. Cook County accounts for more than 40% of the state’s population. While it may seem fair from a vote standpoint, it is unbalanced from a regional standpoint. The urban voters of Cook County likely have little idea of the needs of the rural Illinois residents.
The secession movements are an example of disenfranchised rural voters wanting to have their voices heard.