Bost, Miller would be forced to run against each other for new proposed congressional seat
Illinois Democrats have unveiled updated congressional maps that would force Republican incumbents Mike Bost and Mary Miller into a primary battle for one seat in southern Illinois.
The plan would also create a new 13th District that would stretch from Belleville and East St. Louis about 170 miles along a narrow stretch that extends to Springfield, Decatur and Champaign. The political website FiveThirtyEight estimates it would lean Democratic by about 7 percentage points.
Democrats, who control state government and redistricting in Illinois, released the revised maps Saturday.
The maps come weeks after their first draft of boundaries that were also aimed at giving Democratic candidates an advantage in elections as the party fights to keep control of the U.S. House in 2022.
State legislators are scheduled to meet in Springfield on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider the maps, which are redrawn every decade based on census data. Illinois, which currently has 18 U.S. House members, will lose a congressional seat because of population loss.
The latest maps also propose a second Latino-leaning Chicago area district and could mean primary matchups for two Democratic incumbents in the Chicago suburbs.
Under the new maps, a proposed congressional district would connect Latino populations on the northwest side of Chicago with the city’s West Side and western suburbs for a second Latino-leaning district, in addition to the one currently represented by U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Chicago Democrat.
“The changes made in this updated congressional map will help ensure the diversity of Illinois is reflected in Washington,” state Sen. Omar Aquino, a Chicago Democrat who is chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said in a statement. “We appreciate the many advocacy groups and individuals that continue to guide our work with passion and dedication, as we remain focused on the creation of a fair map that will provide equal representation for all.”
The new proposed maps also mean some potential incumbent matchups next year. The Illinois primary is in June.
One of them would be between Bost, a fourth term congressman from Murphysboro, and Miller, a first term congresswoman from Oakland, to represent the southernmost section of Illinois.
Under the latest proposal, first-term Rep. Marie Newman of LaGrange and two-term Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, both Democrats, would be in the same suburban Chicago district. That’s different from the first version of the maps in which six-term Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, was drawn into Newman’s district.
The revised maps would put Kinzinger’s hometown into the same sprawling district as four-term Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Dunlap, a strong Trump supporter.
The Illinois Republican Party and advocacy groups have blasted the mapmaking process as partisan and lacking transparency. Democrats held several public hearings, but almost all were without any draft maps for the public to comment on and were attended mostly only by lawmakers.
Illinois GOP spokesman Joe Hackler on Sunday called the latest maps an “even more aggressive” plan to protect Democrats.
“As we said for the last version of the map, Illinois Democrats, led by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have made it clear that they are willing to disenfranchise Illinois voters and break repeated campaign promises to do the bidding of (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (Washington) D.C. power brokers,” Hackler said in an email.
Like the first set of maps that were released Oct. 15, the latest draft would create a number of oddly-shaped districts meant to favor Democratic candidates going into the 2022 midterm elections.
An analysis by the political website FiveThirtyEight estimates the maps would create 13 Democratic-leaning districts, three Republican-leaning districts and one highly competitive district, the 17th District, currently represented by Democrat Cheri Bustos, of Moline, who has announced she will not seek reelection next year.
The loss of two Republican seats in Illinois could prove important next year when Democrats are expected to lose seats and possibly their slim majority in the U.S. House.
The proposed maps would accomplish that, in part, by pitting a number of incumbent Republicans against each other.
Meanwhile, Republican Rodney Davis, of Taylorville, would be placed in a reshaped 15th District that includes his hometown, snakes east around the city of Champaign, then curves back west to take in much of west-central Illinois, from an area just north of St. Louis to an area just south of the Quad Cities.
The House Redistricting Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the proposal at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the Statehouse. The Senate Redistricting Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday, Nov. 3, but a time and location has not yet been announced.
This story was originally published October 25, 2021 at 4:01 PM.
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Capitol News Illinois is a non-profit news service that provides coverage of Illinois state government to members of the Illinois Press Association. The Belleville News-Democrat is an IPA member. The BND posts articles from Capital News Illinois and The Associated Press to supplement our staff’s state affairs coverage, which focuses on Southern Illinois legislators and regional issues.
