Frustrated Illinois residents are renewing efforts to break away from Chicago and create a new state, saying resentment has grown over the city’s influence on state government and policy.
Loret Newlin, director of Illinois Separation, the group leading a campaign to let voters consider separating from Cook County, told News Outlet that people outside the Chicago area feel overlooked by state lawmakers and want a greater say in how Illinois is governed.
“Our area is not taken into consideration when laws are being made,” Newlin said. “There’s definitely more focus on them, and the laws are centered to benefit Chicago and Cook [County].”
Loret Newlin, director of Illinois Separation, told News Outlet that residents outside the Chicago area are being ignored by state government. (iStock)
“There is a lot of area outside of Cook that should have been taken into consideration,” she said.
Newlin said voters in 11 counties and several townships will consider a non-binding referendum in November asking whether they support separating from Cook County and forming a new state.
Residents in some Illinois counties are pushing to separate from Cook County, where they feel Chicago has an outsized influence on the rest of the state. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Marlin Levison/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
The referendums are designed to measure support for creating a separate state from Illinois counties outside Cook County. Organizers cite the process described in Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, the same constitutional provision used when West Virginia became a state in 1863.
As an example of what she views as downstate residents’ lack of representation, Newlin cited a proposed per-mile tax for drivers that is moving through the Illinois legislature.
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker holds a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Newlin said the proposed per-mile tax, introduced by state Sen. Ram Villivalam, whose district includes part of Chicago, would place a heavier burden on rural residents, farmers and truck drivers. Unlike many Chicago residents, she said, people in those communities often have no practical access to public transportation.
“It’s a long way to a lot of important things for people who live in downstate. A lot of our businesses rely on transportation. One of our biggest industries down here is truckers, farmers. And the commute to a job is usually a little farther and we don’t have the option of taking the Chicago public transit system,” Newlin said. “And we tried to defeat this in 2019 and succeeded, but as typical, they won’t take no for an answer.”
Newlin also criticized Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, saying she is “not happy” with the law and believes it “really benefits the criminals.” She cited what she described as the law’s effects on Chicago as another source of concern.
Crime scene tape is stretched around the front of a home where a man was shot on May 28, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Signed by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker in 2021, the SAFE-T Act eliminated cash bail and created a new process for judges to decide whether defendants should remain in custody or be released while awaiting trial.
Pritzker has rejected the idea of dividing Illinois. A spokesperson for the governor previously described the separation effort as a “stunt” that is “not going to happen,” according to NBC Chicago.
News Outlet reached out to Pritzker and Villivalam for comment.
