Chicago Tribune (10/15/21) on Democrats' Plan to Increase Party's Edge in Illinois (ILLINOIS)

Nationally, Illinois is seen as the Democrats' second-best opportunity (next to New York) to draw a new U.S. House map that will gain the party seats in the next Congress. Accordingly, as the Chicago Tribune reports, Illinois Democrats have introduced a map designed to drive the Republicans' seat total down by two .

The current lineup from the Land of Lincoln is 13-5 Democrats, but the state will lose a seat due to population shifts. The Democrats will now attempt to use their hold on the governorship and majorities in the legislature to create a 14-3 breakdown (the article says some wanted the Dems to try for 15-2, but party leaders did not pursue this vigorously).

The Democrats' plan, which is slated for legislative hearings and a vote in the next few weeks, features two potential districts that match two incumbents against each other: One puts together anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger (who might well lose his primary) and Democrat Marie Newman, whereas the other places GOP representatives Darin LaHood and Mary Miller in the same boundaries.

Dave Wasserman has tweeted that three of the Democrat-proposed districts, while containing pro-Biden majorities from the 2020 presidential vote, might not be as safely Democratic as they could have been.