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Illinois' 1st Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
March 20, 2012 |
Bobby L. Rush  |
Bobby L. Rush |
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The 1st Congressional District of Illinois held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Incumbent Bobby Rush won the election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Illinois has a mixed-hybrid primary system. Voters can change parties each year but must declare a party affiliation at the polls. Depending on which party is chosen, the voter will then be counted as registered for that party. Voters may change party affiliation at polls or caucus.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by February 21. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9. A "grace period" was also available, allowing voter registration until three days before an election.[2][3]
- See also: Illinois elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Bobby Rush (D), who was first elected in 1992.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Illinois' 1st Congressional District is based in Cook County and included much of the South Side of Chicago, extending into the city's southwest suburbs until reaching the border of Will County and covers 97.84 square miles, making it one of the 40 smallest districts in the U.S.
Candidates
General election candidates
March 20, 2012, primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Bobby Rush Incumbent |
73.8% | 236,854 | |
| Republican | Donald Peloquin | 26.2% | 83,989 | |
| Total Votes | 320,843 | |||
| Source: Illinois Board of Elections "2012 General Election Official Vote Totals" | ||||
Democratic primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Bobby Rush Incumbent |
83.8% | 64,533 |
| Jordan Sims | 2.6% | 1,980 |
| Clifford Russell, Jr. | 3.1% | 2,412 |
| Fred Smith | 2.9% | 2,232 |
| Raymond Lodato | 4.2% | 3,210 |
| Harold Bailey | 3.4% | 2,598 |
| Total Votes | 76,965 | |
Republican primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Donald Peloquin |
69.2% | 16,355 |
| Frederick Collins | 24.4% | 5,773 |
| Jimmy Lee Tillman II | 6.4% | 1,501 |
| Total Votes | 23,629 | |
Race background
Endorsements
Fred Smith had been endorsed in the Democratic primary over incumbent Bobby L. Rush.[10] Rush had been criticized by govtrack.us for having the "fourth worst missed-vote record in Congress — 13.2 percent."[10] He had also taken critique from suburban mayors who "grumble that he's less responsive to their constituents' needs than to those of city residents."[10] The redrawn 1st District, reaching into rural Will County, brought in many more suburban voters.[10]
On the Republican ticket, Donald Peloquin had been endorsed over Frederick Collins and Jimmy Lee Tillman II.[10] Peloquin was known for his "2004 attempt to get dozens of southland communities to secede and form "Lincoln County."[10] The Chicago Tribune noted that Peloquin was a strong advocate for a third regional airport and would work for federal funding for infrastructure projects,[10]citing one instance when St. Francis Hospital announced it was closing, when he helped build the coalition that created MetroSouth Medical Center.[10]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Illinois
With the 2011 redistricting, Illinois lost 1 of its current 19 House seats because the state's population failed to grow as fast as in other states.[11] Illinois has had 11 Republican congressmen and 8 Democrats since the November 2010 election.[11] The new map, designed by the dominant Democrats, could have flipped that advantage to as many as 12 Democrats and only 6 Republicans.[11]
The new 1st District was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[12][13]
- 74 percent from the 1st Congressional District
- 8 percent from the 2nd Congressional District
- 3 percent from the 3rd Congressional District
- 14 percent from the 11th Congressional District
- 1 percent from the 13th Congressional District
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- See also: FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
In 2012, FairVote did a study on partisanship in the congressional districts, giving each a percentage ranking (D/R) based on the new 2012 maps and comparing that to the old 2010 maps. Illinois' 1st District became less Democratic because of redistricting.[14]
- 2012: 78D / 22R
- 2010: 83D / 17R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measures each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. Illinois' 1st Congressional District has a PVI of D+28, which is the 19th most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 81-19 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 77-23 percent over George W. Bush (R).[15]
Campaign donors
2012
| Bobby L. Rush (2012)[16] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[17] | March 8, 2012 | $37,202.38 | $13,400.00 | $(37,472.18) | $13,130.20 | ||||
| April Quarterly[18] | April 15, 2012 | $13,130.20 | $58,832.02 | $(35,061.45) | $36,900.77 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $72,232.02 | $(72,533.63) | ||||||||
| Donald Peloquin (2012)[19] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[20] | March 8, 2012 | $12,373.20 | $9,950.09 | $(11,190.86) | $11,132.43 | ||||
| April Quarterly[21] | April 13, 2012 | $11,132.43 | $28,820.00 | $(24,671.86) | $15,280.57 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $38,770.09 | $(35,862.72) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Bobby Rush won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Raymond G. Wardingley (R) and Jeff Adams (G) in the general election.[22]
| U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois' 1st Congressional District, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Bobby L. Rush Incumbent |
80.4% | 148,170 | |
| Republican | Raymond G. Wardingley | 15.9% | 29,253 | |
| Green | Jeff Adams | 3.8% | 6,963 | |
| Total Votes | 184,386 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
External links
- Campaign finance at OpenSecrets.org
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Illinois"
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "2012 Election Calendar," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "Registering to Vote in Illinois," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 ABC News 7 "Election Results Primary 2012" accessed March 20, 2012
- ↑ SouthTown Star "Sims to run for U.S. rep in 1st District" accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Chicago Tribune "Illinois congressional candidates seek spots on ballot" accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ SouthTown Star "Peloquin says he’s running for Congress" accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Chicago Tribune, "Contested races for the U.S. House" accessed March 12, 2012
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chicago Tribune, "Odd geography in new Illinois congressional map:Millions of constituents will find their representative has changed" accessed February 22, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Illinois' congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Illinois," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Bobby L. Rush, "Candidate Summary Reports" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ Bobby L. Rush, "Pre-Primary Report" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ Bobby L. Rush, "April Quarterly" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ Donald Peloquin FEC Reports, "Summary Reports" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ Donald Peloquin FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary Report" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ Donald Peloquin FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
