REDISTRICTING REFORM
Reformers: Democrats Recruit ‘Prince of Darkness’ to Defend Illegal Maps.
At a press conference at the Capitol on March 19, 2025, Illinois House Republican leaders provided an update regarding their ongoing lawsuit on redistricting filed with the Illinois Supreme Court. The lawsuit alleges that the Illinois Democratic majority has rigged legislative elections by gerrymandering electoral districts to their benefit and at the expense of a fair process for all Illinois voters.
House Republican Leader Tony McCombie was joined by Deputy Leader Ryan Spain and Assistant Leader Dan Ugaste at a press conference in Springfield to provide the latest details.
“In response to the Illinois Supreme Court’s order to address the issue of timeliness, the Illinois Attorney General has declined to take a position on behalf of the State Board of Elections,” explained Assistant Leader Ugaste. “This is contrary to what has happened in these situations in the past. Speaker Welch and Senate President Harmon have intervened, and their lawyers are now relying on a legal technicality to deny an untold number of voters their constitutional rights concerning their vote.”
This legal technicality is called ‘laches,’ a seldom-used defense mechanism that asserts the plaintiff has unreasonably delayed its legal claim and, therefore, is no longer subject to the relief it seeks. As Ugaste explained, the defense, which in this case is the State Board of Elections, is now attempting to prove the plaintiffs, which are Leader McCombie and five registered voters, were not diligent in pursuing this lawsuit. The defense is also attempting to prove prejudice, which, in a legal sense, is their ability to defend their case.
House Republicans are optimistic and eager for the legal process to continue moving forward. It’s also worth noting that Welch and Harmon are calling upon prominent election lawyer Mike Kasper to defend the case. In the past, Kasper has been called ‘Vader,’ the ‘prince of darkness’ and Democrats’ ‘chief weapon against redistricting reform.’ He was also a top lawyer for disgraced and convicted ex-speaker Mike Madigan.
“Speaker Welch has come forward and hired Mike Madigan’s favorite henchman, Mike Kasper, to defend his overtly partisan gerrymandered legislative maps,” stated Deputy Leader Spain. “It is time to end Democrat insiders conspiring with one another to disenfranchise the people of Illinois!”
“The Illinois Supreme Court has a crucial opportunity to declare these maps unconstitutional and end political gerrymandering in our state,” stated Leader McCombie. “House Republicans recognize the gravity of this moment and are committed to supporting a fair and transparent process for Illinois. Meanwhile, Speaker Welch continues to recklessly defend extreme partisan tactics that undermine our democracy.”
For all the latest news in the case, please visit redoremap.com.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
McCombie Says, “Enough is Enough! Let’s Get to Work for Illinois.” The Illinois House Committee Deadline for bill action was Friday, March 21. At the deadline, 643 House bills had been passed out of committee. Unfortunately, only 64 of the 643 bills advanced through the committee process were Republican-sponsored bills. House Republicans make up one-third of the Illinois House of Representatives, yet only 10% of the bills advanced were Republican bills.
For weeks, the Democratic supermajority has wasted time on the House floor throwing tantrums against President Donald Trump’s actions. Illinois Democrats have called Trump and Republicans in general Nazis and fascists. Democrats have decried Republican efforts to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, to secure our borders, and to cut wasteful government spending.
As the Democrats continued their verbal assaults on President Trump this week, House Republican Leader Tony McCombie took to the floor Thursday and said, “Enough is Enough! Let’s Get to Work for Illinois.”
EDUCATION
The Wall Street Journal slams IL Democrats’ ‘Assault on Home-Schoolers.’
House Republicans continue to fight to protect the rights of parents to choose the best educational experience for their children.
House Bill 2827, the “Homeschool Act,” was heard in committee on March 19 and passed over the objection of tens of thousands of families choosing home or private school for their children. This bill mandates that non-public elementary and secondary schools register annually with the Illinois State Board of Education and requires homeschools to fill out a Homeschool Declaration Form or risk truancy, which could lead to fines and even imprisonment. It further requires homeschool administrators to submit personal information about themselves and their students to state and local authorities.
“Illinois should empower parents to place their children in education environments that help them learn and succeed,” said Rep. Amy Elik. “Bureaucrats in Springfield have bigger problems to solve than tracking parents’ schooling decisions. This bill attempts to solve a problem that does not exist.”
The public has been vocal about their opposition to this state overreach. Nearly 51,000 motivated residents filed witness slips in opposition to HB 2827. Thousands of Illinoisans went to the State Capitol to express their opposition and speak to lawmakers about their positive experience with homeschooling.
HB 2827 was heard in the Education Policy Committee, where Elik is the House Republican Spokesperson. Despite all Republicans voting in opposition, it passed the committee and was advanced to the House Floor for further action. Residents who agree that HB 2827 should be stopped should sign the House Republicans’ petition to Protect Homeschool Freedom.
“This legislation infringes on the rights of parents who choose to homeschool their children and opens the door to more intrusive mandates down the road,” said Deputy House Republican Leader Ryan Spain. “Children should be able to learn in the environment that best suits their educational needs. Thank you to all the advocates who came to the Capitol, filed witness slips, and contacted legislators to protect homeschool freedom in Illinois.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board slammed ‘The Illinois Assault on Home-Schoolers’ in a scathing editorial published on Friday, March 21. The WSJ editorial stated that “Democrats want to impose new rules and bureaucracy on parents.”
Fewer than one in three students in Chicago Public Schools can read at grade level. That should be a five-alarm fire for the Democrats who run Illinois, but they have other priorities—to wit, regulating those dastardly parents who educate their children at home.
On Wednesday Democrats passed the Homeschool Act out of a House committee on an 8-4 vote. Current state law imposes minimal regulations on home-schoolers, requiring only that they teach certain core subjects. Democrats introduced the Homeschool Act after a 2024 report by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica claimed Illinois’s limited oversight leaves home-schooled children vulnerable to abuse. […]
Under the bill, home-school families would have to submit annual forms to their local public school that include students’ names, birth dates, grade levels and home addresses. Families who fail to submit the forms would be subject to criminal truancy penalties.
Families must also allow the state to compile annual reports on home-schooled students, and state authorities may demand at any time that a home-school administrator submit for review a log of curricular materials and an assessment of academic progress. The bill also requires private schools to register with the state and submit to requests for personal information on all enrolled students and guardians. […]
The good news is that the home-school putsch has aroused the public. Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, nearly 50,000 voters had filed witness slips against the Homeschool Act, compared with fewer than 1,000 in favor. Perhaps Democrats will listen to the public for a change.
Republicans Demand Response from IHSA on Protecting Female Athletes. On March 18th, 2025, the House Republican caucus sent a letter to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) asking the organization to detail how their policies and protocols for administering high school sports will be amended in line with President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order which prohibits biological men from competing against biological women in sports.
The IHSA’s failure to respond prompted House Minority Leader Tony McCombie to issue the following statement:
“House Republicans stand united on this issue and demand a response from the IHSA on behalf of concerned parents and students across Illinois. Fairness and safety in sports is not a political issue and should not be up for debate. Policies protecting same-sex sports and locker rooms must align with federal policy to ensure the integrity of competition and the well-being of all student-athletes.”
ETHICS REFORM
House Republicans Call for Anti-Corruption Package.
House Republican lawmakers presented their legislative proposals to once again bring forward an opportunity for ethics reform in the Illinois statehouse. The proposals are an attempt to restore public faith in government and root out commonplace corruption under the dome. State Representatives Patrick Windhorst, Dave Severin, and David Friess discussed the unfortunate record of public corruption guilty verdicts impacting the Illinois General Assembly, including the former Speaker of the Illinois House Michael Madigan.
State Representative Patrick Windhorst, a former prosecutor and a current member of the House Judiciary Criminal Law, Restorative Justice, and Ethics and Elections Committees is sponsoring a number of ethics reform bills, including HB 2413, which would prohibit legislators and Constitutional officers from lobbying at the local level. For Rep. Windhorst, it is a common-sense first step forward.
“While Democrat politicians were arrested, indicted, charged, convicted, and incarcerated, we waited for action,” said Windhorst. “We have been disappointed time after time. While House Republicans continue to wait for Illinois Democrats to take the issue of public corruption seriously, we’ve been busy filing and sponsoring comprehensive legislative ethics reforms to stamp out corruption. Our legislative efforts aim to turn our state from a corrupt embarrassment into something our citizens can be proud of.”
State Representative Dave Severin says much more must be done to restore public trust.
“Rep. Windhorst and I were both here when Mike Madigan was still in control of this place,” said Severin. “A lot has changed since then. We had COVID, we’ve had arrests of politicians, we’ve had indictments, guilty pleas, and even guilty verdicts. Some things haven’t changed, we have the same House Rules, the same handpicked politicians running the place, and the same miserable results. I am proud of the work that my fellow Southern Illinois House Republicans have done to try to clean up this mess.”
State Representative David Friess discussed the long list of indictments as reason enough that ethics reform cannot wait.
“Today is our final day to pass house bills out of committee…and how many of our ethics reform bills have made it out of committee to even be considered on the House floor? Zero. With indictment after indictment, not a single ethics reform proposal we’ve introduced will even be debated in the chamber this spring. It’s shameful,” said Friess.
The House Republican members further noted just how long the people of Illinois have been subjected to public corruption laying out their objective when it comes to reform: No more legislators as lobbyists, close the revolving door, and end the use of campaign money to pay for public corruption defense.
The ethics reform legislation House Republicans are backing includes the following:
- HB 1382 – Puts ‘teeth’ into the Legislative Inspector General’s office to issue subpoenas without first seeking approval from the people they may be investigating.
- HB 1384 – Addresses local government lobbying reform.
- HB 1385 – Closes the loophole in the current revolving door policy that allows a legislator to be a member one day and the next day be a lobbyist.
- HB 3115 – 3-year revolving door lobbying ban for members of the General Assembly.
- HB 3121 – Implements representation case and recusal reform.
- HB 1554 – Bans public officials from using campaign funds for their own legal defense.
- HB 2813 – Requires a 72-Hour budget review before a vote on the budget.
JOBS
Latest unemployment report shows stagnating Illinois economy. The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced Thursday that the unemployment rate fell -0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent in February, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The revised January unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate was down -0.1 percentage point from a year ago when it was 4.9 percent. The national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February, up +0.1 percentage point from the previous month, making the state’s unemployment +0.7 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate.
Illinois nonfarm payrolls remained nearly unchanged in February at -6,500 (-0.1%), while the January monthly change in payrolls was revised from -1,100 to -4,400. The industry sectors with over-the-month job increases included: Construction (+2,900), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+2,300), and Professional and Business Services (+1,900). The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll job decreases included: Government (-5,600), Leisure and Hospitality (-3,100), and Private Education and Health Services (-1,700).
The number of unemployed workers was 321,000, down -1.0% from the prior month, and down -0.9 percent over the same month one year ago. The labor force was down -0.2% over-the-month and up +0.9 percent over-the-year.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
$8 Million Announced for Desperately Needed Repairs at Lincoln’s New Salem Site. The New Salem State Historic Site is now slated to receive an infusion of funding to perform major repairs, following the work of Representative Wayne Rosenthal, State Senator Steve McClure, and members of the Lincoln League volunteer organization to draw attention to the condition of the site.
“I would like to thank the Department of Natural Resources and the Capital Development Board for prioritizing funding to make desperately needed repairs,” said Representative Rosenthal. “The funding provided ensures that future generations will be able to experience the place where Abraham Lincoln lived, learned, and became one of our nation’s greatest leaders.”
“I am proud that our work was able to help secure funding to make desperately needed repairs at the site,” said Senator McClure. “This is an important step toward restoring what is one of the most important Lincoln sites in the country, so that people can continue to visit and study the history of our nation’s greatest president.”
On March 19th, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB) jointly announced $8 million in funding for repairs at the site. According to the agencies, the funding will be used to make repairs to up to 23 log buildings, as well as updates for the outdoor theater.
The announcement follows recent press conferences and media tours put together by McClure, Rosenthal, and the Lincoln League to raise awareness of the conditions of many of the structures on the site, including collapsed roofs, structural issues, and a failing elevated pedestrian walkway.
“Today’s funding announcement of $8 million in state capital funding for Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site is greatly appreciated and sorely needed,” said Gina Gillmore-Wolter, President of the New Salem Lincoln League representing volunteers committed for decades to preserving the historic legacy of the site near Springfield where Lincoln spent formative years as a young adult. “We sincerely thank Gov. Pritzker’s Administration, IDNR, CDB and the tireless commitment of champions in the Legislature Sen. Steve McClure and Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, who represent the New Salem site, for working to address the urgent infrastructure issues at this site. We have called clearly and loudly for help, and we believe this announcement shows those calls have been heard. We need now to work with the Administration to ensure the funds can be released quickly so repairs can be made before more damage is done to the homes and buildings at New Salem. We will also work closely with Sen. McClure, Rep. Rosenthal and the Legislature on the best path forward for our legislative package to address the needs at the site today, tomorrow, and for many generations to come.”