Snapshot · Up First from NPR
G.H. Merritt first conceived of New Illinois in 2018 out of frustration over high taxes and Chicago's political dominance, and formalized the movement in October 2020.
Where this was said
At 6:19 · chapter starts 2:41
Reporter Connor Towne O'Neill joins Ayesha Rascoe to explain the New Illinois movement in clear terms: all Illinois counties except Cook County (Chicago) would secede to form a new state. The driving frustration is political arithmetic — Chicago's size as the nation's third-largest city gives Democrats a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature, leaving rural conservatives structurally powerless. [1] — Connor Towne O'Neill "Democrats hold veto-proof supermajority: Chicago-area Democrats currently hold a veto-proof supermajority in the Illinois state legislature…" 03:45 O'Neill is quick to distinguish New Illinois from the Confederacy: these are patriotic Americans who want to stay in the United States, just not in the same state as Chicago. They invoke the language of the founding — taxation without representation — as their philosophical grounding. Crucially, there is a legal path: Article IV of the Constitution allows new states to be admitted with congressional and state-level approval, but that second requirement is the Catch-22. The state legislature they want to escape would have to let them go.
Chicago's massive population gives it a veto-proof Democratic supermajority in the state legislature, leaving rural conservative counties politically powerless. Rural Illinoisans don't just feel outvoted — they feel colonized by a city with a totally different history, economy, and culture.
Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, giving it outsized political power in Illinois's state legislature compared to rural downstate areas.
Chicago-area Democrats currently hold a veto-proof supermajority in the Illinois state legislature, leaving rural downstate conservatives with little political power.
The Constitution actually provides a mechanism to admit a new state — but it requires approval from both Congress and the existing state legislature. For New Illinois, that second requirement is the near-impossible catch: the very legislature they want to escape would have to let them go.
G.H. Merritt didn't want to leave Illinois — she wanted Illinois to leave her alone. Standing in her father's house, she had a simple, powerful realization: high taxes and corrupt governance were pushing her out of her own home, and she refused to let that happen.
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