What you don't understand is that many of the "deeply entrenched leftists" in Illinois ARE the "Republican" opposition.
Tom Cross (from a safe GOP district) served as the GOP "opposition" leader in the IL House for the last 8 years, and he claimed to be a "conservative" but caved and did Madigan's bidding on every issue. He even claimed for years that he "opposed gay marriage", then flip-flopped on the day the vote was held and voted for it at the last minute when the Dem caucus didn't have enough members to fall in line in order to pass it. And then he ran for State Treasurer as the "Republican" nominee and gloated about his betrayal in campaign ads.
Maryland and Illinois may both suffer from overwhelming Dem majorities, but Maryland doesn't have a Combine of powerful GOP officials working to KEEP the Dems in power behind the scenes. Illinois does. Numerous Republicans here are owned by the Chicago machine.
When you don’t have a true opposition party, its like a Third World family dictatorship.
In IL a handful of families run things there and the elections are just for show.
“Maryland doesn’t have a Combine of powerful GOP officials working to KEEP the Dems in power behind the scenes. Illinois does. Numerous Republicans here are owned by the Chicago machine.”
I’ll give you that - Maryland’s GOP is flat on it’s ass with NOTHING