Republican Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois is facing intense criticism and fact-checking after sharing a misleading electoral map on social media that dramatically misrepresents the political landscape of her own state.

Miller posted a county-by-county map showing Illinois overwhelmingly colored in red, with only small blue spots in urban areas, accompanied by the claim: “This exposes the truth: ILLINOIS IS RED!” She asserted that only Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s gerrymandering maintains Democratic control in the state.

Miller’s map illustrates a common misconception about electoral representation that experts say fundamentally misunderstands how population density affects voting outcomes.

Cook County, which includes Chicago, contains 5.2 million of Illinois’ 12.8 million residents — representing more than 40% of the state’s entire population. The broader Chicago metropolitan area houses approximately 75% of Illinois residents.

While Republicans may win the majority of Illinois’ 102 counties by land area, these rural counties are sparsely populated. Democrats win where most Illinoisans actually live, in dense urban and suburban areas that occupy relatively small geographic footprints.

This latest incident adds to Miller’s history of controversial statements. In June 2025, she faced bipartisan criticism for a deleted social media post calling it “deeply troubling” that a Sikh chaplain delivered the morning prayer in the House of Representatives, initially misidentifying the chaplain as Muslim.

Earlier controversies include her 2021 reference to Hitler during a rally, for which she later apologized.

Miller’s misleading map reflects a nationwide phenomenon where traditional electoral maps can create false impressions about political support. Data visualization experts note that geographic area doesn’t reflect voting population — a principle often summarized as “land doesn’t vote, people do.”

Research shows that more than 75% of land area appears red on traditional county maps, while only about 46% represents actual Republican vote share when adjusted for population density.

Similar misleading claims are made about national elections, where vast red areas in sparsely populated rural counties can create the visual impression of Republican dominance despite Democrats winning the popular vote.

Los Angeles County alone, with 9.8 million residents, would rank as the 11th largest state in America, ahead of 40 individual states. If it were a state, LA County would have more people than the combined populations of the 10 smallest states (Wyoming through New Hampshire).

Brooklyn, just one borough of New York City, has approximately 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would be the third-largest city in America after New York and Los Angeles. Brooklyn’s population exceeds that of 15 entire U.S. states, including Wyoming (587,618), Vermont (648,493), Alaska (740,133), and 12 others.

Manhattan, despite being just 23 square miles, houses about 1.6 million people, nearly three times the population of Wyoming, the least populous state. Queens, another NYC borough, contains approximately 2.2 million residents, making it larger than all but 35 states.

Eight major metropolitan areas: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington DC account for more of the U.S. population than every rural county combined. Yet on traditional maps, these dense urban centers appear as tiny blue dots surrounded by vast expanses of red.

This trend is accelerating. Between 2010 and 2020, the urban population grew 6.4% and now accounts for 80% of the country. Meanwhile, rural areas continue losing population as young people migrate to cities for economic opportunities.

The result is an electoral system where land area creates a misleading visual impression of political strength that doesn’t reflect where Americans actually live or how they vote. Mary Miller’s Illinois map exemplifies this nationwide phenomenon, showing a “red” state that’s actually home to millions of urban Democratic voters whose voices are visually minimized by the tyranny of geography.

Miller’s post comes amid heightened tensions over redistricting nationally. Gov. Pritzker has suggested Illinois might consider further gerrymandering in response to similar efforts by Texas Republicans.

Illinois’s current congressional and legislative district maps were adopted in 2021–22 under state law, but they have drawn criticism for how far they push partisan advantage, even as they comply with basic federal requirements.

Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, New York and Pennslyvania have some of the nation’s most gerrymandered maps. ritics urge the state to adopt an independent redistricting commission to depoliticize mapmaking and ensure both legal compliance and fair representation.