Illinois counties are exploring ways to split the state and form a new state outside Chicago’s Cook County, and the movement seems to be gaining momentum.
On November 3, when Americans head to the ballot box to vote in the midterm elections, 12 Illinois counties and several townships will vote in non-binding referendums on whether they want to pursue legislation and constitutional measures to split the state, possibly joining the 33 counties that have already voted in favor.
The results will not be legally binding; they will be used to indicate whether officials should take further steps towards achieving a binding split. They are “advisory,” but a yes vote would “be another important step in building momentum for the Illinois separation movement, said Republican Representative Brad Halbrook, whose home county of Shelby is holding a referendum next week.
The referendums “send a clear message that more and more Illinois residents are dissatisfied with the direction of our state and want a greater voice in determining their future,” he told Newsweek.
Supporters, many of whom are from rural counties in Illinois, argue they do not have enough say over how the state is governed because Chicago has disproportionate influence.
“We are ignored,” said Loret Newlin, the director of the advocacy group Illinois Separation Referendum, which has organized 11 of the referendums. “We are not taken into consideration when they’re making a lot of the laws that hurt us,” she told NBC Chicago.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has repeatedly spoken out against split referendums, saying previously, “The idea that some place in Illinois wants to kick out another place in Illinois should not be on the ballot.”
Newsweek contacted the Illinois Separation Referendum and the offices of Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle via email for comment.
The Illinois Counties Voting on Separation Next Week
Coles, Gallatin, Hamilton, Henderson, Macoupin, McDonough, Monroe, Piatt, Saline, Warren and Washington counties will be voting in referendums organized by the Illinois Separation Referendum group.
The language on the ballot differs slightly in different counties, NBC Chicago reports, but the question is generally: “Shall the board of (county name) correspond with the boards of the other counties of Illinois outside of Cook County about the possibility of separating from Cook County to form a new state, and to seek admission to the union as such, subject to the approval of the people?”
Meanwhile, Ford County will hold a separation referendum not affiliated with the Illinois Separation Referendum Group. The main difference is that Ford County’s question asks state lawmakers to pursue splitting actions, as opposed to county boards.
A September legal notice shows the language in Ford County’s referendum will be: "Shall the Illinois General Assembly pursue legislation and constitutional measures to separate the City of Chicago and Cook County from the remainder of the State of Illinois, creating a new state, subject to approval by the Illinois General Assembly, the Congress of the United States, and all other constitutional requirements?" This effort is not related to the Illinois Separation Referendum group.
There will also be referendums in several townships in Adams County, in western Illinois, but not a countywide vote.
Why Some in Illinois Want a New State
Separation advocates argue that state laws and actions are too heavily determined by what Chicago needs, in ways that do not serve or actively harm rural and downstate communities.
Complaints include taxes and fees that separatists argue impose unfair penalties on people living in rural areas, such as taxes, which Newlin says hit people in non-urban areas harder because they rely on driving more than those who live in Chicago, where public transport is more accessible.
“There is no business within five miles of my farm,” she said in a June interview with local radio station NPR Illinois. “That is one of the best examples of clueless.”
Illinois ranks second highest in the country for gasoline taxes, behind California, according to the Tax Foundation, with state taxes and fees totaling 70.4 cents per gallon as of July 2026.
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Halbrook blamed Pritzker’s fiscal policies for more people leaving Illinois “for states offering more economic opportunity and a more affordable cost of living,” citing an Illinois Policy Institute analysis that counts 63 tax and fee increases since the Democratic governor took office in 2019.
Indeed, around 40,000 people left Illinois for other places in America in the year ending July 2025, according to Census Bureau estimates, but these figures do not establish why people moved. The state’s population also grew by 16,000.
Another common grievance is gun restrictions in Illinois, where people are generally required to hold a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card to legally possess firearms or ammunition, according to the Illinois State Police.
Newlin has called this a “big one in rural downstate,” saying people want “no more FOID cards and other gun restrictions and fees,” arguing, along with many other gun rights activists across the country, that people should not have to obtain state permission and pay money to access their Second Amendment rights.
These are just two issues that separatists have complained about; others include state debt, pension obligations and immigration spending.
“The real story isn't that Illinoisans are talking about forming a new state,” Halbrook told Newsweek. “The real story is that so many Illinoisans have become frustrated enough with their current government that they believe a new state might offer them a better future.”
Why Illinois Leaders Oppose a Split
Pritzker has appealed for unity and has argued that different regions offer different benefits to each other.
In May 2024, when he visited Madison County, before it voted to explore a split in November that year, Pritzker said: “We’re a very diverse state, there’s no doubt. We have rural communities, and exurban communities, and suburban communities, and urban communities. And the idea that some place in Illinois wants to kick out another place in Illinois should not be on the ballot. It shouldn’t be something that’s part of a lexicon, a discussion of politicians.”
He pointed to things like state-funded transport, university and infrastructure projects in Madison County as examples of investment supported by taxpayers across Illinois, including Cook County, which accounted for approximately 40 percent of the state’s individual income tax in 2023, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue’s latest county breakdown.
More recently, in August last year, Pritzker criticized separatists, calling them “partisans and people who don’t support the fact that this is mostly a Democratic state” who “are looking for any way to get attention.”
“If you want to leave the state, I would like you to stay,” he said later. “I’d like you to get involved and make it a better place by working together with us. But if you want to leave, then get up and move.”
Halbrook criticized this response, calling it “incredibly dismissive of the very people he was elected to represent.”
“These are Illinois citizens who love their communities, have deep roots here, and want a better future for their children and grandchildren,” Halbrook told Newsweek. “They aren't asking to abandon their homes. They're asking for a government that listens to them.”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Gray R. Thomas