Republican nominee wins in Illinois 15th Congressional District
The Republican nominee in Illinois’ 15th Congressional District race has won, according to unofficial election results from the Associated Press.
With 59% of precincts reporting as of 10:30 p.m., Republican Mary Miller had 72.5% of the vote compared to Democrat Erika Weaver’s 27.5%. Miller had 129,860 votes and Weaver had 49,152.
Weaver, of Mattoon, faced Miller, of Oakland, to replace retiring Republican U.S. Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville.
The winner can only serve one term before the district, which encompasses nearly 15,000 square miles of southern and central Illinois, is possibly eliminated because of redistricting.
The completion of each U.S. Census kicks off redistricting, or the act of drawing new legislative maps. In Illinois, that job belongs to the General Assembly.
The 15th District is among the likeliest to be eliminated because of its dwindling number of constituents. The downstate region has seen some of Illinois’ largest population declines for years. As a result, it lost the 20th District after the 2000 census and the 19th a decade later.
Shimkus, who represented the 19th and 20th before they disappeared, landed in the 15th in 2013. Shimkus is retiring at the end of this term before possibly facing another lost district.
Democrats are expected to control redistricting as they did following the 2010 Census. Prior to the pandemic, there was a bipartisan effort to reform redistricting among Illinois legislators. The effort failed, however, as the legislative calendar disappeared.
States must report their data to the president by the end of the year. But because of delays caused by COVID-19, it’s not yet clear when data for redistricting will be released to the public, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Election authorities will continue counting outstanding vote-by-mail ballots as they arrive until Nov. 17, and state officials will certify official results on Dec. 4.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 7:20 PM.
