PROPOSED ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS COMPLETED

May 31, 2011  |  Today's News

Today’s deadline for a newly drawn Congressional District map had Illinois lawmakers working this weekend, making tweaks and changes even yesterday and releasing a proposed map today.

  

The new Illinois Congressional map, which we expect to be approved today without change, moves Illinois from 19 Congressional Districts to 18.  This decrease is due to Illinois’ slower growth and is reflected in the 2010 census data.

While all Illinoisans expected to see two of our current Congressmen run against each other and speculated about who those two would be, there was perhaps a bit of surprise to see that the new map leaves three open districts in the Chicagoland area, and creates four races within the new districts instead of just one.  This is because the new districts were drawn to include the residences of more than one current Illinois Congressman.

The following list indicates where current members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation’s homes fall within the current version of the Proposed Congressional Map:

District

Illinois Congressional Delegation Members

1

Rep. Bobby Rush

2

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Rep. Adam Kinzinger

3

Rep. Bill Lipinski

4

Rep. Luis Gutierrez

5

Rep. Mike Quigley and Rep. Judy Biggert

6

Rep. Peter Roskam

7

Rep. Danny Davis

8

Open - No Incumbent

9

Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Bob Dold

10

Open - No Incumbent

11

Open - No Incumbent

12

Rep. Jerry Costello

13

Rep. Tim Johnson

14

Rep. Randy Hultgren and Rep. Joe Walsh

15

Rep. John Shimkus

16

Rep. Manzullo

17

Rep. Bobby Schilling

18

Rep. Aaron Schock

While several news sources have commented on the proposed districts, Politico’s story focuses in on the changes long-time Republican Congressmen Johnson and Shimkus will face. 

As a reminder, the Illinois legislature (currently controlled by Democrats) is responsible to create a redistricting plan that takes into account equal representation for each Illinoisan and creates contiguous districts.  According to Speaker Madigan’s redistricting website “Now it is the role of the General Assembly to determine how the 18 Congressional Districts will be redrawn. The traditional guidelines for redistricting based on U.S. Supreme Court decisions include compactness, contiguity, and the preservation of counties, communities of interest and the cores of prior districts. The protection of the rights of racial minorities and the maintenance of traditional redistricting principles have been the Supreme Court's major concerns when ruling on redistricting cases.”