Chambana Sun

Despite recent Republican proposals to secede downstate from Chicago, Gov. J.B. Pritzker encouraged unity in his Feb. 21 state of the State speech.

“Some of you need to stop pretending that one part of Illinois can exist without all the others," Pritzker said in his speech, which was excerpted on WSIU. "We are one Illinois!”

Seven Republican lawmakers are co-sponsors of IL HR0101, which, “Urges the United States Congress to declare the City of Chicago the 51st state of the United States of America and separate it from the rest of Illinois.”

Rep. Dan Caulkins

One of the co-sponsors of the resolution, Rep. Dan Caulkins (R- Decatur), told WSIU radio that he did not feel admonished by the speech.

“We obviously live in the governor’s head, or least the people that write his speeches … It’s the recognition; this is what we’re seeking,” Caulkins said.

“If it was just something that he could dismiss or brush, I doubt that he would have said anything. We’re getting our message across -- what’s happening here in this statehouse, it does not resonate well outside of a small northeastern part of Illinois.”

Other proposals to separate Chicago and the rest of the state have gained attention in recent years.

Kathy Cramer, a University of Wisconsin political scientist and author of “The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker,” told the Chicago Tribune, that rural residents often share, “the feeling that we just don’t get our fair share. We don’t get it in terms of resources, but also in decision-making power.”

Cramer said disenfranchisement could date back to economic shifts that started in the 1970s. 

“It’s not new,” she said, “but there has been a new legitimacy given to this idea that there’s a huge difference between us, and it’s not surprising that now we’re seeing it in more places.”