Secession Speakeasy #203: Illinois Separation Votes Head to Twelve Counties on November 3

Released November 2, 2026.

Professor Wall (Grant M. Dahl) and the Secession Minstrel give their last episode before the November 3 election to the Illinois separation referendums. Eleven counties vote county-wide, and a 12th, Adams County, votes by township. Wall calls it the largest round yet and reads the Adams County setup as a test of how to keep a city like Quincy from outvoting the rural land around it. The Minstrel agrees that township votes show when “one population center” is “throwing off the will of the rest of this county.”

The hosts tie the votes to the cost of living downstate. Wall says rising fuel prices hit rural areas hardest. The Minstrel, who works early in a phosphate supply chain, says a freight load that ran $3,000 “for as long as I can remember” now costs $4,200.

Neither host expects Springfield or Congress to act on the results. Their case is that “non-binding” does not mean meaningless. Citing Ludwig von Mises’s Liberalism, Wall says the votes are “laying the groundwork for when DC falls apart,” leaving the counties a recorded vote to point to when they pick a neighboring state or form their own. The Minstrel puts it more simply: “they want to have a vote that matters.” Wall closes by urging listeners in those counties to vote yes.

Also in this episode

• Wall’s St. Louis aside: if it ever became a state, take East St. Louis along and make it “Gotham City on the Mississippi”
• The Minstrel’s view that a separate downstate would press Washington to stay out of a war with Iran
• Wall’s list of rural regions at odds with their states’ cities, from Minnesota’s Arrowhead to eastern Oregon, and his view that any future federation could not leave them outside
• A shrimp-dinner bet on whether talk of national divorce grows after the midterms

Wall cites the Partisan’s own report on the votes: At Least 11 Illinois Counties Vote November 3 on Leaving Cook County Behind.

Secession Speakeasy is an independent program produced by Grant M. Dahl. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the Texian Partisan, Texas Nationalist Enterprises, or the Texas Nationalist Movement. Featuring an episode is not an endorsement.