The 2026 midterm elections are just 15 months out, and candidates and parties are already looking to do what they can to win seats.  Elections for House seats place larger states’ congressional districts under an increasing spotlight.  This is due to the way these districts are drawn.  Efforts by state governments to draw district lines in their parties’ favor – a tactic known as gerrymandering – have been the subject of controversy.  Officials in a handful of states – both Democrat- and Republican-controlled ones – are looking into this tactic ahead of the midterms. 

Dr. Kent Redfield is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois-Springfield.  He notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has largely stayed away from intervening in efforts to gerrymander.

From Illinois’ House delegation, 14 of the 17 representatives are Democrats.  Dr. Redfield says this is in part due to the way the districts were drawn in the state. 

So what’s next for Illinois’ district boundaries?  Because the Democrats control the executive and legislative branches in the state, along with most of the U.S. House seats, it is unlikely they will touch the maps by their own accord.  However, the maps will have to be redrawn in 2030 in line with the new census. 

House district lines do not affect the U.S. Senate races, but for Illinois, this will be no less in the spotlight in 2026.  Senator Dick Durbin’s pending retirement is expected to make for an interesting primary in less than a year’s time. 

More information on UIS’s political science program is available at www.uis.edu/spia.

Dr. Kent Redfield appeared as a guest on the WTIM Morning Show.