By: Ted Dabrowski
Two and a half years ago I was invited to give a keynote address to an Illinois group wanting to create a new state. They call it New Illinois. They wanted me to speak because they thought Wirepoints’ analysis of Illinois’ woes captured the true depth and scope of the many problems they want to fix.
New Illinois’ goal is to rally downstate counties – those outside of Cook County – to effectively “kick themselves out of Illinois.” Their ambition is to get what they say is sorely missing downstate – representation in state government. Hence their petition for a new state, devoid of the monopoly power and influence of Chicago and Cook County.
My immediate reaction was to decline their invitation because I reject the idea of breaking up Illinois. Quite the opposite, our goal at Wirepoints is to return Illinois to what it was just a few decades ago – a destination state, a beacon of freedom and opportunity. Illinois should be a top-growth state today and the only reason it’s not is its dismal governance. Illinois needs massive reforms and its politics gutted, but it shouldn’t be split up.
Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the invitation and eventually accepted. After all, many counties had already passed referendums to separate and many others had created committees to organize for separation. I wanted to know who these people were. To listen to their grievances. To understand their “why” of separation. Were these people outlaws, or just everyday Illinoisans suffering under the crushing weight of Illinois’ statehouse?
The map below shows where the separatist movement stands today. 33 counties have successfully passed non-binding referendums to separate, most with approval rates of over 70%. Then there are the 40-plus counties that have created separation committees – complete with a yearly convention and constitutional processes. In all, 68 of the state’s 102 counties now have some form of separatist movement.
Whether such a high percentage of voters are really up for separation is an open question, but at a minimum it’s a major indication of frustration and protest.
It’s important to understand just who these separatists are. Lots of Illinoisans aren’t happy and haven’t been for a long time. In fact, many stopped complaining long ago and became “separatists” of their own, just by picking up and leaving the state for good. In all, Illinois has lost a net 1.6 million people to other states since 2000. Only Alaska and New York have lost more people on a percentage basis over that 20-plus year period according to IRS migration data.
What’s different about the proponents of New Illinois is that they want to “leave Illinois,” but without actually moving. They want to stay in their own homes, in their own towns, on their own farms – in their new state. I found these people weren’t that different from the ones who’ve already fled the state for good – they just don’t want to be squeezed out. Sure there are the cavalier few, like in any movement, but most are reasonable, everyday Illinoisans upset about the high property taxes, the worsening job outlook, the decline of their cities, poor schools and overall government corruption.
Most of all, they feel they are no longer represented in the statehouse. Downstate has been losing power ever since the 1964 Reynolds v. Sims Supreme Court case changed how state senators got elected. A change from geographic to population-based representation ensured that political power going forward would be dominated by Chicago and Cook County. And more power led to even more gerrymandering, creating the complete Chicagoland domination that Illinois suffers under today.
The bottom line is, these Illinoisans – who love this state and share in the state’s long history – have become so frustrated that they feel their only way out is to separate. Illinois’ leaders ignore these residents at their own peril.
Indiana’s offer
But ignore is precisely what’s happened. And that’s opened the door for Indiana Republicans to woo Illinois’ disenfranchised counties.
Indiana’s House leadership has even announced a legislative effort to create a dual-state boundaries commission with the goal of absorbing Illinois’ counties into Indiana. Republican House Speaker Todd Huston made the pitch: “To all of our neighbors in the West, we hear your frustrations and invite you to join us in low-cost, low-tax Indiana,” he said.
For sure it’s a hyper-political move. Just about everything these days is. The chance of a New Illinois actually separating is extremely low, needing the approval of both state legislatures and Congress. The same goes for Indiana trying to absorb Illinois counties.
So, while it’s all incredibly unlikely, the discussion has put Illinois’ leadership on the defensive. Gov. J.B. Pritzker rejected Indiana’s overture by calling the effort a “stunt,” and even disparaged the state of Indiana itself: “I’ll just say Indiana is a low-wage state that doesn’t protect workers, a state that does not provide healthcare for people when they’re in need, and so I don’t think it’s attractive for anybody in Illinois where wages are higher, where the standard of living is higher, and we do provide healthcare for people in need.”
The economic and demographic data collected by the US government contradicts Gov. Pritzker’s claims, especially during the period he’s been in office. Indiana’s economy has grown faster than Illinois’. It’s adding jobs instead of losing them. The tax burden is far lower. Fewer people are dependent on the government for their next meal. Indiana has a AAA credit rating while Illinois has the nation’s worst. Indiana is gaining people and population while Illinois is losing them.
And, perhaps most tellingly, Pritzker gets it totally wrong on Illinoisans moving to Indiana. The move to Indiana has been happening in a big way, and it has been for years. In 2023 alone, nearly 30,000 Illinoisans moved to Indiana while only 11,500 Hoosiers moved into Illinois. That was a net gain of nearly 18,000 for Indiana.
And Pritzker completely missed the mark on wages. The governor’s claim that Illinois wages are higher shows how out-of-touch he is with the struggles of downstate residents. Yes, Cook County’s $1,614 in weekly wages is high, and so is the state’s average, at $1,435, but downstate wages are not.
The 33 counties that have voted to separate from Illinois have an average weekly wage of just $986. That’s $600 less, or nearly 40%, than in Cook County.
A needed discussion
A separation from Illinois is highly unlikely to happen – nor should it happen. But that’s not to say that the grievances of Illinoisans in groups like New Illinois should be ignored.
To do so is a mistake. For a state that’s creating so many problems for its people, it’s absolute arrogance.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Illinois lawmakers shouldn’t burden taxpayers with Tier 2 pension “fixes” until they know what they’re doing
- One big example of why Illinois badly needs a DOGE of its own
- Underreported Trump order has sweeping implications for DEI at universities and other federal grant recipients
- The next absurd bill from Illinois’ legislature: Removing student test scores from teacher evaluations
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Need approval by Illinois and federal government. Will not happen!!!! alternative is to reverse the unconstitutional (art IV sect 4 states shall have the republican form of government ) Reynolds v Sims (1964) land mark decision which force the state senates to be just another house with equal population districts. This is the democratic form of government. If is was legal then the US senate would have had to also change because the Constitution creates the republican form of government. A senate representing a different constituency, federation members, states. For state they would be counties for example.
I support the Illinois Separation Referendum and New Illinois movements to split Chicago from the rest of Illinois It seems that most of the arguments against splitting Chicago from the rest of Illinois are due to misconceptions that it’s impossible, illegal, or economically unviable. Those arguments are wrong and are easily refuted. Splitting states is a peaceful, constitutional process that has been done four times already in our nation’s history. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution describes the process for splitting, combining, and creating new states: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-4/section-3/clause-1/#:~:text=New%20States%20may%20be%20admitted,as%20well%20as%20of%20the Kentucky was part of Virginia, Maine was part of Massachusetts, West… Read more »
Michael, speaking for myself (other Wirepoints people may have different views), here are my thoughts and I welcome your response: Re the separation referendum, the issue of how to deal with the departing area’s share of our monstrous state debt seems insurmountable. Separatists say they would assume their share. So, some chunk of new Indiana would have that weight still tied around its neck. That would be a weird mess for many reasons. A big part of the separatists problem wouldn’t be solved since it would still have the debt. Other Hoosiers and new arrivals in the state would avoid… Read more »
I respect much of the work of Wirepoints, but I’m disappointed that they don’t support New Illinois / Illinois Separation Referendum. Wirepoints seems to be arguing from an emotional standpoint when they say that they don’t want Illinois to be split. There are plenty of states with around the same population or smaller than what New Illinois would have that are doing just fine and even better than Illinois is with Chicago. Illinois is a massive nearly 400 mile long state where most of the area outside of Chicago is significantly different from Chicago politically, economically, and culturally. The Chicago… Read more »
This is a substantial effort and use of resources. The energy would be better spent attacking state problems head on. Political change has finally arrived. Pritzker is very weak and Johnson is universally despised.
THE SUBSTIAL EFFORT has been done by non-politians by any who have given up on having our voices heard any other way.
Why give up???? The Democrat party is falling apart. Set up some sort of outreach campaign in the middle of Cook County. Find common ground!! Get email addresses. Film it and post it online to expose the fraud in Pritzker’s lies and perception management; trust me, it’s all lies. This is exactly how the Democrats have managed to, as Mark Glennon calls it, “punch way above their weight.” I see the same Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, Act Blue, ACLU, AIPAC, etc. crews canvassing and promoting in Wicker Park and Logan Square day after day. THEY DO IT BECAUSE IT WORKS.… Read more »
The Democrat Party is out of power nationally but it still has pockets of strongholds in various cities and states throughout the country and like dirty commies and cockroaches, you have to smoke out every last one of them, and even then, they’re never truly gone. The Democrat Party has been around in some form since the 1790’s as the Democratic-Republican Party before it splintered into the Democrat Party formally in 1828. The Democrat Party and that evil that is the party is not going anywhere, it’s a part of human nature, the Democrat Party represents the very worst urges… Read more »
I want to see a county do it. The flurry of lawsuits would wind up in SCOTUS and we would get legal precedent. Nothing happens without action. It is time for action. Oregon counties want to secede from Oregon and join Idaho. Let’s make it happen.
“The dogs bark and the caravan moves on”. Nothing, not even continuing widespread IL corruption, will change the stranglehold Chicago metro area democrats have on the IL legislature, and when Pritzker blathers in about “Illinois values” it is the values of primarily the northeast sliver of the state only. IL needs term limits and tight ethics laws but also some sort of intra Il electoral college in effort to alleviate some of the steamrolling by the Chicago region. And none of that is happening, these elected jobs are simply annuities preceding a pension.
Trump talks big on national boundary changes /taking over (Canada, Greenland, Panama canal, Gulf of America, etc). So much of the election was about the rejection nationally of Blue urban/ big city “elite” dem dominance.
So many other Blue states have rural populations that want OUT, to separate from their urban Blue dominated overloads. What are federal laws that stop state separatist boundary changes? Even though it might never go anywhere, with reps in control of all 3 branches of gov in DC, they could offer legislation for state boundary changes.Towards flipping Blue states.
It is a much needed discussion. This all comes down to one thing: federal house seats. They’ll never give up those counties because we lose federal Democrat house seats.
The state of West Virginia was created because of what is happening again today in Virginia…..government is the largest employer. Call us Southern Illinois, or Western Indiana, or Eastern Iowa, or New Illinois. Whatever. Folks, it does not matter until you change the Reynolds v Sims act of 1964 for proper representation by state. 2 state senators does not work by geographic population density. That is what has caused this mess. It is happening across the USA…..7 other states want to secede from their big city run states……AGAIN, people need to stand up and speak and fight and vote to… Read more »
West Virginia was created because it wanted to be a free state while the rest of Virginia owed slaves.
Year after year IL leads the U.S. in residents most wanting to leave like at 25%. Democrats concerns have not been in resolving the issues citizens are upset about, but rather how to backfill the loses with captive voters. Under Obama and particularly Biden, Democrats figured thay had their ‘Great Replacement’ underway – and at last count it’s +500k illegal aliens in IL. A number of NGO’s were enlisted to facilitate the human trafficking through the open borders and into IL, all paid for with U.S. taxpayers monies. PDJT’s DOGE is uncovering much of the malfeasance by HHS and Myorkas,… Read more »
Forgot the ILLEGAL ALIENS count we are all paying for!
Ted, your analysis is always very accurate and your explanation of it is perfect. The failure of the incorporation of your commentary is that Illinois is a 1964 federal law failure, and other large states are right behind it. Enough voters in Illinois still don’t get it, and until they do, Illinois will continue to dissolve into an island of poorer and uninformed people. Federal conservatism is taking hold in this country, and Illinois will be left at the end of the train wallowing in its unaffordable debt.
And why shouldn’t separation happen from Illinois into Indiana . I’ve lived here for 27 years and seen nothing but watching the state go downhill year after year with millions fleeing the state . And to continuing the attack on our first amendment and second amendment rights, woke DEI and trans ideology as well as the fiscal attacks on our land taxes and school taxes, and gas taxes continuing unabated. I think we need to seriously look at secession and I hope that will county will actually move forward and be a leader for this movement. The Secession process was… Read more »
HE TOTALLY LEFT OUT the name of the organization that has been putting these referendums on the ballot:
ILLINOIS SEPARATION REFERENDUM Find us on Facebook. New Illinois does not do this work. We do.
Try to find a gas station in Cairo IL. Locals go to KY it MO because it is less expensive.
I live 15 minutes from the Indiana border. I buy ALL my gas in Indiana. Even when it’s not much of a difference from Illinois’ prices it’s still the principle of the thing. Not giving JB anymore money to mismanage. I know, people say that the gasoline taxes goes toward fixing roads, etc. so I’m spiting myself. Have you seen Illinois’ roads? The money obviously isn’t going to their repair anyway! Going to corrupt politicians. My wife cracks up because everytime I gas up I make a point of actually saying F*&k JB!
Same here, close to Wisconsin where the gas is always 30-90 cents a gallon less. I as well do it for the principle of not giving taxes to Illinois.
Indiana wants me!
Lord, you can’t go back there.
Well CJ, I’ve never lived there but it’s not out of the question. I miss that golden oldie too.
“Red lights are flashing around me” That part of the lyrics fits, too.
True.