U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis announces decision about his political future in Illinois
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis announced his plans to run for Congress again Tuesday.
The fourth-term Republican from Taylorville was first elected to represent the 13th Congressional District in 2012. He consistently won over Democratic challengers thanks to his bipartisan appeal and political savvy with downstate Illinois issues.
During redistricting this year following the 2020 Census, Illinois Democrats drew Davis’ home address out of the 13th district and into the 15th, a gerrymandered district that includes GOP voters in swaths of rural central Illinois. In the metro-east, the 15th includes parts of Collinsville and Alton, and all of Troy, Highland and Hamel.
“Republicans are primed to retake the House next year,” Davis said in a statement, “and I’m ready to work with a new Republican majority to finally fire Nancy Pelosi and hold the Biden Administration accountable for their massive failures. I look forward to campaigning hard and earning every vote in this district over the next year.”
Davis is so far the only Republican candidate running in the 15th district, although GOP U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland could decide to challenge him. Her home falls in the new 12th district, only about a mile from one of the 15th’s borders. Candidates are allowed to run in any district in the state, even if they don’t live there, as long as they’re from Illinois.
Miller could face a tough campaign if she runs in the 12th against incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.
Davis received endorsements from Bost, GOP U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood and former U.S. Rep. John Shimkus. He also gathered support from 31 of 35 Republican county chairmen and 14 Republican state lawmakers in the 15th District.
Davis has been ranked the most bipartisan member of Congress from Illinois multiple times by The Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy’s Bipartisan Index, and most recently he was voted the 14th most bipartisan representative out of all members of the House. Davis was a longtime staffer for Shimkus before running for office himself.
Primary elections in Illinois will be held June 28. Lawmakers pushed back the date from March to account for delays in redistricting caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 10:21 AM.
