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Many citizens of Illinois’s current Tenth Congressional District will have a new member of Congress, according to a proposed redistricting map released Friday.
Every ten years, Congressional boundaries are redrawn to adjust for population shifts noted in the United States Census. The proposed map released Friday shows the planned borders for the state’s 18 Congressional districts.
Illinois lost a seat in the House of Representatives because the state grew at a slower rate than other states. A vote on the new map by the Illinois General Assembly is planned this weekend.
In the current district, Rep. Robert Dold (R-Kenilworth) represents all of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Highland Park, Winnetka, Glencoe, Deerfield, Northbrook, Libertyville and Buffalo Grove as well as most of Glenview and Wilmette. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) serves the remainder of Glenview and Wilmette.
Dold's home switches districts
If the proposed map is approved, Schakowsky will act for more of these communities than before, and Dold's Kenilworth home will be located in Schakowsky's redrawn Ninth Congressional District.
Legally, Dold can run in either place. The law only requires a member of Congress to live in the state they are representing. When Wilmette business consultant Dan Seals ran against Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Highland Park) in 2006 and 2008 as well as against Dold in 2010, Seals lived in Schakowsky’s district.
The new Ninth District will include all of Winnetka, Kenilworth and Wilmette as well as large portions of Glenview and Northbrook. It will also encompass a tiny portion of extreme southeastern Glencoe.
The reconstituted Tenth will continue to cover all of Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Libertyville. It will still include most of Glencoe as well as significant parts of Northbrook and Glenview.
Nearly all of Northbrook and Glenview west of Lehigh Avenue remain in the Tenth District while those portions east of Lehigh will be in the Ninth, with some minor variations.
'Map was gerrymandered'
Dold was not the only Republican placed in a district with another sitting representative in the proposed map. The same occurred for two other constituencies. No current member of Congress lives in either the redrawn Tenth District or the Eighth.
With Democrats controlling both chambers of the General Assembly as well as the governor’s office, Dold and Kirk were quick to blame partisan politics for the changes.
“This map was gerrymandered to ensure suburban voters will have little voice in Congress,” Dold said. “This proposal appears to be little more than an attempt to undo the results of the election held just six months ago.”
Kirk agreed with Dold about the gerrymandering and the loss of a suburban representation. He also saw partisan efforts in the new boundaries.
"The draft map is the unfortunate result of cynical partisans who want to override the decision of Illinois voters who elected fiscal conservatives to Congress,” Kirk said. “Its main purpose is to force (Rep.) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) back into power.”
Schakowsky declined to comment until the legislature passes a final map.
While Dold said nothing about whether he will run against Schakowsky or in the reconstituted Tenth, where many of his current constituents live, he made it clear he intends to continue on the mission he began when he was elected.
“The people of my district sent me to Washington to solve our nation's serious challenges,” Dold said. “In my first five months in office, we have put forward solutions to address those challenges but more work remains. I intend to continue to work tirelessly for my constituents and to be a Member of Congress until that work is done.”
One person who will not be making a race for the new Tenth District seat is state Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) though she believes the area is now more Democratic friendly. Her name has been mentioned as a possible candidate.
“From my perspective, the Tenth is more complete with more communities remaining together. I like the look,” Garrett said. “With everything we have to do map drawing is very complex. Everyone won’t be happy.”
GrossPoint
7:15 am on Saturday, May 28, 2011
Instead of
"If the proposed map is approved, Schakowsky will act for more of these communities than before"
shouldn't that read
"If the proposed map is approved, Schakowsky will act against more of these communities than before"
Schakowsky has never even pretended to have anything but contempt towards the communities in question. The taxpayers here are merely a piggy bank for her to break open to fund her vote-buying/ spending schemes.
Deep Dish Pizza
11:34 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011
Maybe now silver spoon Bobby Dold will FINALLY grow up and move out of his parents house.
Dold the whiner -"This map was gerrymandered to ensure suburban voters will have little voice in Congress"
That's some weird spin. There are MORE suburban districts with this new Dem map than with the map that Republicans drew up 10 years ago. How does having more districts covering the suburbs give them "little voice"???
Whine Whine Whine
Maybe GrossPoint and Dold could bring themselves to admit the last map from 2001 was gerrymandered by Denny Hastert to give Mark Kirk a sure win for the next decade! Even that old dinosaur Phil Crane admitted that he gave up some of his old old 8th district so the Republican mapmakers made sure Kirk could have MORE Republican votes.
More whining from Dold - "This proposal appears to be little more than an attempt to undo the results of the election held just six months ago."
Really? Did Dold not notice the Democrats won the governor's office AND both chambers of the state legislature?
The state legislature writes the map, not Bobby Dold.
This proposal is an attempt to give the suburbs MORE of a voice because the suburbs are the area of the state that grew the most in the past 10 years! That's why there are so many MORE districts covering the suburbs.
nsmom
7:33 am on Saturday, May 28, 2011
GrossPoint is amusing. To this North Shore resident it seems more like the reverse - many here have contempt for Schakowsky and those she represents who are not like them (wealthy, white, and Christian).
BTW, Kirk didn't live in the 10th when he first ran for office. He lived in Washington and used his father's Kenilworth address when he filed his candidacy.
SkokieAcademy
8:12 am on Saturday, May 28, 2011
FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) was one the greatest American Presidents in US History. In his wisdom, Roosevelt encouraged, promoted and demanded accountability by vigorous public discourse. For us as concerned parents, professional educators and hardworking tax payers, not to question the highest offices of education is “morally treasonable to the American public”. Doing business as usual is no longer sustainable financially, morally acceptable for our children and unequivocally “unpatriotic”.
We all need to start demand answers to why is public education broken? This issue should transcend all party lines.
SkokieAcademy
8:13 am on Saturday, May 28, 2011
FDR, Kansa City Star editorial from May, 7th, 1918.
"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole.
Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone else."
GrossPoint
10:34 am on Saturday, May 28, 2011
The go-to Democrat canard repeats itself here....any opposition to the Left-wing must be due to racism or religious bias...couldn't opposition to Schakowsky be due to the fact that her husband and business partner is a convicted felon and lobbyist who conspired to defraud donors and banks...and that
Schakowsky has repeatedly threatened and demonized her potential constituents to score cheap political points rather than governing?
Attacking your constituents seems to me to be a bad strategy, though it has worked for Schakowsky now for many years in her current district.
Deep Dish Pizza
11:49 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011
The go-to Republic canard repeats itself here....any opposition to the Right-wing must be due to socialist or communist bias...couldn't opposition to Bob Dold be due to the fact that he admitted to teabaggers last year that he is more conservatives than he lets on;
that his first 6 months in office prove he IS more of an extreme radical conservative than he lets on by voting to kill Medicare as we know it, redefine rape, force the IRS to audit women for talking to their ob-gyn, defund women's healthcare (despite his dog and pony show claiming otherwise), force seniors to pay astronomical co-pays, and force future retirees (the majority of Americans under 55) to clip coupons before seeing a doctor;
that his chief of staff is an entrenched lobbyist who got kicked off McCain's presidential campaign for too many lobbying ties and who most recently represented the World Outsourcing Capital -- the Chinese Chamber of Commerce;
that the co-chair of his do-nothing "jobs committee" is the head lobbyist for Abbott which fired 2000 Americans the same week Dold announced his first "jobs committee" meeting...
and that Bob Dold and his conservative thugs have repeatedly threatened and demonized his actual constituents to score cheap political points rather than governing?
JUST SAYIN'
Tony Kovacs
2:33 pm on Saturday, May 28, 2011
As someone misrepresented by Cong. Schakowsky for years, I would love to trade her (in the remap) for a first round draft choice and minor league player to be named later. Seriously, it is too bad, but not surprising, that Dems. in Ill. use politics to draw boundaries instead of some neutral and rational method like in some states. Using political remaps and opposing voter ID enable them to win elections. We need IDs to buy beer and cash checks but not vote. Guess who benefits-those who gain by vote fraud. And guess which party opposes voter ID? Hint-starts with a D. But they say they just want to expand the voter pool. But who really does not have an ID now-a-days?
Deep Dish Pizza
11:53 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011
Name some vote fraud from the past 10 years.
There was the Florida hanging chad disaster in the 2000 presidential votes. But that was Republicans.
There was the Ohio voting machine "errors" in the 2004 presidential race. But that was Republican again.
There was the Wisconsin "missing" county votes just this year in the supreme court vote. Oops. Republican again.
PS - the people who don't have a drivers license are the working poor who can't afford a car and either walk to work or are able to obtain vouchers for public busses. To force them to pay for an ID is back-handed way of forcing a poll tax which is HIGHLY ILLEGAL. But clearly the Republicans are ok with illegal activity when it comes to counting votes, as the past 10 years shows!
nsmom
11:59 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011
Having worked on election day many times, the only fraud I've seen in the 10th district is large groups of voters in Democratic areas being told BY REPUBLICANS that their polling place had changed when it hadn't. Oh, and votes from several machines in more Dem areas somehow disappearing.
And yes, Dold misrepresented his views on many issues, especially Choice. He accused Dan Seals of lying about his/Dold's position, when actually Dold was lying (as we've seen from his votes) and Seals was merely calling out the lie. Fortunately Dold is likely to be out of Congress very soon.
nsmom
2:41 pm on Saturday, May 28, 2011
No doubt the gerrymandering is political, but it is a bi-partisan issue. IL is controlled by Democrats, but most surrounding states, controlled by Republicans, have the exact same situation but with opposing political results. It's naive (and ignorant) to think this is unique to either party.
Deep Dish Pizza
11:56 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011
The 2001 Illinois Congress mapping was drawn by Republicans. And Republicans tended to get elected for the last ten years. Go figure.
This whining that "suburban voices will be drowned out" is hokum. If you look at the new map anyone can see the suburbs have MANY more districts now - all around Chicagoland in a big ring from north to west to south.
The first thing that well-known "liberal" (not) Jim Oberweis said this week about the new map is that they look LESS GERRYMANDERED than the old one. That'd be the old one that Republicans drew 10 years ago.
Tony Kovacs
3:06 pm on Saturday, May 28, 2011
Actually some states use a non-partisan method and that is the point I made. We are in Illinois and should work to make the Illinois remap fair.
Deep Dish Pizza
11:56 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011
Why weren't you saying this 10 years ago when Republicans drew the last map?
Steve Sadin
4:04 pm on Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The map has been tweaked a little and will be voted on later today. For those of you who want to see the changes and zoom into your street so you know if you are in the 10th and your neighbor across the street is in the 9th, go to http://www.ilsenateredistricting.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109:how-to-access-the-adjusted-proposal&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50. You can use Google Earth to get all the details.