On Tuesday’s “CNN News Central,” Illinois Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Juliana Stratton (D) argued that Illinois isn’t gerrymandered, “we have competitive districts here in Illinois. And the reason why those competitive districts have gone to Democrats is because Gov. Pritzker (D) and I have delivered big things for the people of Illinois.”
Co-host John Berman played a clip of CNN Senior Political Commentator former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) saying, “So, in Illinois, I got redistricted out of my district twice, including this last time by Democrats. There’s not a lot of juice left to squeeze in Illinois. But what’s happening in this mid-cycle redistricting or mid-decade redistricting is a pure power grab.”
Berman then asked, “I want to break that down into three separate things, if I can. Illinois has 14 Democrats, 3 Republicans. And you did — the Democrats did district — basically gerrymander Adam Kinzinger out of his seat. What’s your response to that?”
Stratton responded, “Well, in so many ways, that’s comparing apples to oranges. Look, we have competitive districts here in Illinois. And the reason why those competitive districts have gone to Democrats is because Gov. Pritzker (D) and I have delivered big things for the people of Illinois. They know what we’ve delivered. We’ve broadcasted that message far and wide, the way that we have defended the rights — the constitutional rights and the fundamental rights that people have. We’ve protected reproductive freedoms. We protected civil rights. We have created jobs all across our state, put our state on the path to a clean energy future. Those are the messages that we have gotten out, and people have responded, voters responded. And that’s why, in those competitive districts, they have gone Democrat.”
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