Teaching the 2016 Election: Competition Lacking in Illinois General Assembly Contests

by Shawn Healy, PhD, Civic Learning Scholar

Beyond the statewide race for Comptroller, 158 of the 177 Illinois General Assembly seats are in play this November. This includes all 118 House seats and two-thirds of the Senate (39). Senators enjoy four-year terms and are staggered into three different groups, where all face voters in the election after the decennial redistricting process. House terms are two years (see Article IV, Section 2 of the Illinois Constitution).

However, only 41% of these races field candidates of the two major parties, meaning that 98 of the contests were decided in the March primary, if not on the day candidate petitions were filed.

According to analysis from the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR), 50 House seats and 12 Senate seats remain contested. On top of the gerrymandered districts drawn after the 2010 census, this dearth of competition locks in a Democratic majority in both chambers for at least another two years.

Democrats currently hold a supermajority in the House and Senate, accounting for 60% plus of the seats, and if their caucuses stick together, enough votes to override a gubernatorial veto. This margin is at the bare minimum in the House (71 votes and 71 Democratic representatives), but more comfortable in the Senate (36 votes and 40 Democratic Senators; see Article IV, Section 9 of the Illinois Constitution).

House Speaker Michael Madigan has struggled to hold his entire caucus together in votes to override Governor Rauner’s vetoes, thus the perpetual stalemate. But he is hoping to pad his margins this fall with the nuclear Trump atop the Republican ticket.

On the other side of the ledger, Governor Rauner has invested more than $20 million of his own resources in competitive legislative contests. He is seeking to further undermine Madigan’s Democratic majority, potentially providing an opening for parts of his “Turnaround Agenda” to advance before his own re-election battle in 2018.

Where you live and/ or teach determines whether or not the General Assembly races are competitive. Half of the 62 contested races are in Chicago’s suburbs, while 6 are in the city (only one is truly competitive), 14 in Central Illinois, and 10 in Southern Illinois.

ICPR’s Illinois Sunshine database lists them all and provides campaign finance comparisons. Note than most of these contests are one-sided on the financial ledger, heavily favoring the incumbent of either party. We wrote earlier about money in politics, but this provides yet another data point proving that cash in hand may not guarantee victory, but a lack of it spells defeat.

Taken together, it’s difficult to see the Springfield Stalemate stymied this election cycle. Sadly, we may indeed be doomed to at least two more years of the dysfunctional status quo.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's Talk About the "Required" Constitution Test

Image
by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor As I have traveled around the state of Illinois to support implementation of the high school civics requirement and pending middle school civics legislation , one of the biggest concerns I have heard is, “How will we have time to prepare students for the required Constitution test? I will never have time to cover all 200 questions on the test if I have to make time for student-centered inquiry, discussions, simulations, and service learning!” The Illinois State Board of Education states: American patriotism and the principles of representative government, as enunciated in the American Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the proper use and display of the American flag, shall be taught in all public schools and other educational institutions supported or maintained in whole or in part by public funds. No student shall receive a certificate
Read more

Resources to Respond to Tragedy and Violence

Image
by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist All educators are civics teachers. Teachers send messages to students about power, justice, and representation by the content we select, the way we engage student voice, the norms we employ, and the stories included in our classroom. We have a responsibility to prioritize our students’ lived experiences, putting Maslow before Bloom , to inform the essential questions we address in our curriculum. When violence or tragedy occurs, classrooms provide a safe venue for students to process, ask questions and be given context to understand current events as they happen. While current events unfold, it is not the time to debate policy. Educators will not have all of the answers to the questions students pose. Teachers can create a classroom space where we can be present, listen, and create a safe environment for our students to do the same. Start with Reflection Your students may be wrestling with a range of emotions. We cannot assum
Read more

Where Do We Go from Here? Resources to Help Classrooms Process the 2020 Election

Image
by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist While the 2020 election season draws to a close, IllinoisCivics.org is committed to helping classrooms prepare for what comes next after a contentious and polarized election season. Students will need help processing the election results and their impact on current and societal issues their communities face around justice, power, equity, and safety. As all educators are civics teachers, we have a responsibility to prioritize our students’ lived experiences, putting Maslow before Bloom , to inform the essential questions we address in our curriculum. Educators will not have all of the answers to the questions students pose, but we can create a classroom space where we can be present, listen, and create a safe environment for our students to do the same. Here are a number of ideas and resources to support this work beyond the 2020 election. Start with Reflection Your students may be wrestling with a range of emotions post-electio
Read more