After a decade of the Democratic party dominating all levers in government the state of Illinois is a mess. Its government pension debt is far and away the largest of the 50 states and its dismal credit rating reflects it. Unlike neighboring states Illinois is hemorrhaging jobs and dancing around its myriad problems, apparently hoping they’ll go away on their own.

Such an environment ought to be advantageous for Republicans, but the last election left the state party’s desiccated corpse by the side of the road. Democrats picked up four Congressional seats and greatly expanded their majorities in the state senate and general assembly. No small part of this had to do with the deft gerrymandering of the electoral maps by state assembly leader and Democratic boss Michael Madigan, but Republicans managed to make a bad situation even worse. Republicans inexplicably managed to even lose seats in districts that Madigan crammed with Republican voters, thanks to disjointed get out the vote efforts, lackluster candidate recruitment, and an ineffectual state party apparatus.