A new state on the way? More Illinois counties could vote to leave Chicago behind
More than 30 counties have already approved the non-binding measure to leave Illinois
Momentum is building in Illinois to form a new state, with more counties ready to vote on leaving because of Chicago’s influence.
Eleven counties are set to vote on non-binding referenda this year to secede from Cook County. If all 11 vote to leave they would join 33 counties that have already approved similar measures.
Cook County is home to Chicago, but people in the state and nation have criticized it for its crime rate, cost of living, Democratic leadership and oversized influence on state politics.
Loret Newlin, director of Illinois Separation, said Illinois leadership does not take concerns from other parts of the state into consideration.
“This is our lived experience. We are ignored. We are not taken into consideration when they’re making a lot of the laws that hurt us,” she told NBC Chicago.
Iroquois County, just 70 miles south of Cook County, is one of 33 counties that have voted to leave the state. About 73 percent of its voters backed the non-binding proposal.
The state’s 8th most populous county, Madison County, also joined the movement.
“Having Madison and Iroquois on the map, we are no longer rural only and we are not southern only,” Newlin told NBC Chicago. “Now with adding several counties on the western side, that’s equally far north as Iroquois, that’s shoring up that we’re not just for southern Illinois anymore.”
Madison County approved the vote in 2024 and one of the organizers said it’s more than just a symbolic measure.
“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,” Dave Stopher, who helped get the measure before voters in Madison County said to NPR. “We're hoping that this sends a very distinct and clear message to Springfield and to Cook County.”
Newlin said the votes are the first step to creating a new state. The group’s plan is based on Article IV of the U.S. Constitution, which was used to create West Virginia during the Civil War.
The state’s General Assembly would have to approve the counties leaving the state, then the U.S. Congress would need to approve the new state.
Gov. JB Pritzker has previously referred to the movement as a “stunt.”
If the 11 counties approve the measure this year, it would bring the total to 44 of the state’s 102 counties that want to leave. Newlin said other counties have also asked her about getting the measure to their voters.