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The Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission met Wednesday for the first time — manned only by Hoosier members — to consider absorbing secessionist Illinois counties.
Prairie State Gov. J.B. Pritzker has dubbed it “a stunt” that is “not going to happen.” No Illinoisans were named to the panel.
Instead, a six-member Indiana quorum conducted business in Terre Haute, taking remote — and mixed — testimony from residents of both states. The meeting was livestreamed.
Since 2020, 33 Illinois counties have passed “advisory referenda” to secede — with seven of those votes occurring in the 2024 elections.
Scott Carpenter of Downstate Illinois Secession said redrawing borders would be “freeing” Prairie State residents from “bad Illinois law.”
He suggested absorbing 74 counties that had a higher share of support for President Donald Trump during the 2020 election than Indiana — or, a smaller number of eastern counties with a higher average income than Indiana.
“Some might argue that this whole border adjustment commission is a waste of time because the government of Illinois would not agree to let these counties go,” Carpenter said. But a debt crisis could force the state’s hand, he added.
“Your commission is an opportunity to sound sound out and settle on a politically expedient solution that can be repackaged and presented to the public in such a time of crisis,” he said.
It’s unclear how Indiana would handle the issue of debt.
Illinois has almost $250 billion in liabilities, according to a 2024 analysis by the Reason Foundation, a Libertarian think tank. Indiana, meanwhile, is running a modest surplus.
“We are essentially a drain on … Illinois, and they remind us of that regularly,” said fellow Downstate Illinois Secession member Eric Ivers. He argued those counties would be “much more productive” under Indiana’s governance.
“We would no longer have to deal with the limitations placed on us by Chicago,” Ivers added.
Those pushing to create a new state spoke against absorption.
G.H. Merritt, who chairs the board of New Illinois, said that would “undermine our efforts to … escape from ‘Old Illinois.’”
She envisions 101 of the Prairie State’s counties seceding — every one besides Chicago’s Cook County.
Merritt claimed the commission was just for show. She recounted a phone call with the office of Republican Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, who authored the law creating the commission.
“The gentleman’s first question to me was, ‘Why do you want to do this?’ And my reply to him is, ‘Why do you want to do this?’” she told the commission.
“… The debt would be just make this prohibitively expensive. And so what he told me is that Indiana knew this was never going to happen because Gov. Pritzker would never appoint the Illinois commissioners to this group,” Merritt said. “He told me that Indiana’s motive for doing this was to send a message to Gov. Pritzker and (Chicago) Mayor (Brandon) Johnson to correct course.”
Molly Gillaspie, a spokeswoman for Huston, wrote that he’s “always pursued this in earnest while acknowledging it was not very likely” that Illinois would send appointees.
Companion legislation in Illinois was unsuccessful.
“When a third of counties in Illinois have expressed their dissatisfaction and voted to secede from their state, I’d say you should take that seriously,” Huston said in a statement. “We certainly take it seriously, we hear their frustrations, and we welcome them to the Hoosier State. I look forward to hearing the Commission’s recommendations on a path forward, and if and when Illinois comes to the table, we will be ready.”
Laurette Newland, with Illinois Separation Referendum, said her group has three factions: some would like to join a neighboring state, some seek a new state, and some don’t care “as long as Cook County is not in it.”
Illinois Separation Referendum has led the secession referenda campaign. Newland noted that voters were only asked about separating, not about joining Indiana. She recommended posing that question to voters before further legislative action.
A border shakeup of this magnitude is unlikely, however.
Illinois would need to approve the move, alongside Indiana. Then, it’d head to Congress for additional vetting.
The commission agreed to “shoot for” a meeting early next year, but hasn’t yet set a date.
Members include: Chair Jeff Papa, chief of staff and general counsel for the Indiana Senate; Vice Chair Greg Newman, a CPA who also serves as Posey County commissioner and GOP chair; Clay Andrews, a farmer, commissioner and GOP chair in Warren County; former state Rep. Don Lehe; Ray McCammon, a farmer and former Sullivan County commissioner; and Mark Seib, a semi-retired farmer from Posey County.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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