Dozens of Illinois counties have expressed interest in creating a new state separate from Chicago, as they are fed up with the city’s influence on the state’s government.
Out of Illinois’ 102 counties, 33 have already held non-binding referendums to gauge interest in separating from Cook County, where Chicago is located, and 11 more are set to vote on similar measures in the upcoming midterm election.
According to the group Illinois Separation, which is spearheading efforts to put the question before voters, all 33 of the counties that have already voted on the referendums were in favor of creating a new state without Cook County.
The vast majority of Illinois’ counties are rural and skew Republican. Residents of those areas have criticized Chicago for its high rate of crime, Democratic leadership and influence on state politics.
Loret Newlin, the director of Illinois Separation, told NBC Chicago that many people in the state feel ‘ignored.’
‘We are not taken into consideration when they’re making a lot of the laws that hurt us,’ she told the outlet.
According to her organization, most of the counties that have already said they would like to separate from Cook County were in the state’s southern, less populous areas.
However, the referendums have also been supported in Madison County, the eighth most populous county in the state, and Iroquois County, which is only around 80 miles south of Cook County.
Dozens of Illinois counties have said they are interested in creating a new state without Cook County, where Chicago is located. The city is pictured
Most of Illinois is rural and skews Republican, leading many in the state to feel Chicago has an outsized influence on state leadership. An Illinois farm is pictured
Out of Illinois’ 102 counties, 33 have already voted in favor of referendums to explore separating from Cook County, and 11 more are set to vote on similar measures in November
Newlin said those votes prove that ‘we are no longer rural only and we are not southern only.’
She also said that among the 11 new counties that will vote on potential separation in November, several are in the western portion of the state and as far north as Iroquois County, showing that the movement is growing and gaining momentum.
Despite Newlin’s insistence on the legitimacy of separation, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has dismissed the movement as a ‘stunt’ and said separation is ‘not going to happen.’
Although most of Illinois’ counties skew Republican, they are far less populated than the Democratic urban centers.
Cook County alone accounts for nearly 41 percent of the entire state’s population. The next four highest-population counties, all of which border Cook County, represent an additional 22 percent of the state’s population. All lean Democratic.
Just 14 counties voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, yet she carried the state by more than 600,000 votes, or an 11 percent margin.
For a new state to be successfully formed without Cook County, Illinois’ state legislature would have to approve the separation, and the move would then have to be supported by the US Congress.
Democrats hold a supermajority in both houses of Illinois’ state government.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has dismissed the separation movement as a ‘stunt’ and said it is ‘not going to happen’
The vast majority of Illinois’ counties skew Republican, but they are less populated than Democratic urban centers. Illinois’ 2024 presidential election map is pictured
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Should Illinois rural counties be allowed to break away from Chicago’s influence over state politics?
Separation from Cook County certainly appears to be a long shot, but supporters of the idea insist that it is possible.
Illinois Separation has pointed to the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War and the creation of Maine out of Massachusetts in 1820. Both states were formed out of the same Constitutional article that proponents of separation hope to use.
Supporters of creating a new state were also particularly encouraged when Madison County, Illinois’ eighth most populous county, voted in favor of the idea in 2024.
Dave Stopher, who led efforts to get the referendum in front of voters in Madison County, told NPR at the time: ‘I think this movement has a lot more teeth to it than the governor has given it credit for.
‘He’s kind of pooh-poohing us and not taking us very seriously. We’re hoping that this sends a very distinct and clear message to Springfield and to Cook County.’
Illinois previously experienced a mock-secessionist effort in the 1960s and 70s, during which a group of 16 central-western counties said they wanted to create the ‘Republic of Forgottonia.’
The movement aimed to draw attention to infrastructure neglect and public funding shortfalls.
Secession never happened, of course, but the movement drew national attention and created public pressure that contributed to highway improvements and renovations, new bridges and the restoration of Amtrak service in the region.
