Lake County Gazette

Former state assembly candidate Jim Walsh argues the root cause of Illinois’ rising outmigration problem lies in raw numbers.

“The reason so many counties in this state are losing population is because we’re allowing just five of them to make decisions for everybody,” Walsh told the Lake County Gazette. “Those counties are Cook and all the collar ones, and they’re all run by Democrats that like to spend, spend and spend.”

Walsh, who narrowly lost his 62nd District race against Democrat incumbent state Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) last month, points to recent U.S. Census Bureau data as proof everyone is left paying the price.

Over the last decade, the state has lost population in at least 93 of its 102 counties, with researchers pegging the overall loss at nearly 170,000 residents, including almost 49,000 people from Cook County alone. Overall, as many as 10 different counties have lost a minimum of 5,000 residents and Walsh doesn’t see anything changing anytime soon.

“These days in Springfield, they don’t even want to governor anymore,” he said. “It’s just all about spending. It’s going to be hard to change things as long as people keep voting for Democrats. Democrats don’t really care about the problem. If they did, you would think they would have changed things by now. I’m really stunned that enough people to make a difference don’t see that.”

As it is, Illinois is one of just four states to experience dwindling population over the last decade, with downstate counties being among those to suffer the most as the region has seen144, 000 residents or 3.2% of its 2010 population flee for other parts.

In addition, the data shows the losses in Cook County represent the second-worst losses of residents in any country across the country, with only Wayne County in Michigan losing more people.