Articles by Carl Wicklander

With Illinois remaining in political and budgetary gridlock, the governor may soon face challenges from within his own party. Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican elected in 2014, may sign Illinois House Bill 40. If passed, it would provide state funding for abortions through Medicaid and state health insurance programs. The bill also contains a provision to prevent the decriminalization of abortion in Illinois if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The governor this spring indicated he would veto the b...

President Donald Trump’s quest for uncovering election fraud may find new life in Illinois. After winning the 2016 election Trump charged that "millions" of people cast illegal votes. In May, Trump issued an executive order forming the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. With the use of data from states, the commission expects to release a report on voting irregularities by comparing the states with a new federal list. Like many other states, the Illinois State Board of E...

ILLINOIS - Political reform in Illinois comes slowly, but one group is renewing the effort to put redistricting back in the hands of the people. After each decennial census, a state’s district maps are redrawn. In most states, politicians draw the boundaries which generally favor the majority party. As in the case of Illinois after 2010, Democrats held the governor’s office and veto-proof majorities in the state legislature. Consequently, they redrew district boundaries without Republican inpu...

A bipartisan team of U.S. senators last week introduced legislation designed to identify and investigate anti-Semitic language and incidents on college campuses. Amid little debate, the Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent. If passed into law, the bill may drastically influence how American college campuses treat speech. Robert Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, and Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, introduced S. 10, the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. The legislation came out after a...

The court ruling to end extreme political gerrymandering in Wisconsin may have reverberations in neighboring Illinois. As IVN previously reported, the Wisconsin Republican Party was free to draw districts which ensured the GOP would retain a majority of legislative seats. A 2-1 federal court decision overturned the precedent that it is permissible to dilute the power of voters based on political party. The Wisconsin attorney general has announced his intention to appeal the decision. The case ...

Illinois is one step away from becoming the seventh state to institute automatic voter registration. In August, Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed Illinois Senate Bill 250, an automatic voter registration bill. The Illinois Senate Thursday overrode the Republican governor’s veto 38-18. The Illinois House is expected to vote on overriding the governor’s veto after Thanksgiving. Illinois Senate Bill 250 automatically registers individuals to vote when they conduct business at state agencies, such as a...

In 2018, 33 US Senate seats, or one-third of the US Senate, will be up for election. Eight incumbents are Republicans, but each of their states routinely vote Republican and so they are unlikely to face serious competition. At this early date, the following five Democratic incumbents appear to hold the most vulnerable US Senate seats. #1. Claire McCaskill – Missouri With Republican candidates winning the state’s races for presidency, governor, and US Senate, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called...

Upon securing the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, several commentators noted that Donald Trump was realigning American politics. Through that realignment, economic nationalism, less intervention in foreign affairs, and restrictions on immigration could define the Republican Party. If Trump loses the election, a key question will be whether his platform will continue in the Republican Party or elsewhere. If somewhere else, one potential outlet for his supporters may be the...

Illinois US Senator Mark Kirk may be the most vulnerable Republican senator running for re-election in 2016. His contentious relationship with his party highlights the frustration many Illinoisans have over the electoral options in this race. Yet Kirk’s own words in a debate further hurt his chances and illustrated the consequence of having few voices on stage. Kirk and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, last Thursday debated in Springfield, Illinois. After Duckworth describe...