Illinois' 18th Congressional District

The 18th Congressional District of Illinois was a congressional district that was eliminated in the 2020 Census apportionment process. During the 2020 apportionment process, Illinois had one seat in the U.S. House taken due to population changes across the country. The 18th Congressional District ceased to exist following the 2022 elections.

As of the 2020 Census, Illinois representatives represented an average of 754,279 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 714,688 residents.

Elections

2020

See also: Illinois' 18th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Illinois District 18

Incumbent Darin LaHood defeated George Petrilli in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 18 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darin LaHood (R)	70.4	261,840
		George Petrilli (D)	29.6	110,039

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 371,879
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mark Haasis (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 18

Incumbent Darin LaHood advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 18 on March 17, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darin LaHood	100.0	59,542

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,542
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Illinois' 18th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Illinois District 18

Incumbent Darin LaHood defeated Junius Rodriguez in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 18 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darin LaHood (R)	67.2	195,927
		Junius Rodriguez (D)	32.8	95,486

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 291,413
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 18

Junius Rodriguez defeated Brian Deters and Darrel Miller in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 18 on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Junius Rodriguez	41.7	14,990
		Brian Deters	39.5	14,189
		Darrel Miller	18.8	6,757

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 35,936
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 18

Incumbent Darin LaHood defeated Donald Rients in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 18 on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Darin LaHood	78.9	61,722
		Donald Rients	21.1	16,535

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 78,257
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Illinois' 18th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Darin LaHood (R) defeated Junius Rodriguez (D) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Rodriguez was added to the ballot in May, after the primaries had already taken place. LaHood was unopposed in the Republican primary on March 15, 2016.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Darin LaHood Incumbent	72.1%	250,506
	Democratic	Junius Rodriguez	27.9%	96,770
	N/A	Write-in	0%	7
Total Votes				347,283
Source: Illinois State Board of Elections

2015

See also: Illinois' 18th Congressional District special election, 2015

Darin LaHood (R) defeated Robert Mellon (D) on September 10, 2015, to win the special election for the U.S. House to represent Illinois' 18th Congressional District. In the primary election on July 7, 2015, Mellon defeated Adam Lopez, while LaHood defeated Mike Flynn and Donald Rients.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Darin LaHood	68.8%	33,319
	Democratic	Robert Mellon	31.2%	15,127
Total Votes				48,446
Source: KHQA News with 96% reporting Vote totals above are unofficial and will be updated once official totals are made available.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 Democratic Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Robert Mellon	60.5%	4,599
Adam Lopez	39.5%	2,999
Total Votes		7,598
Source: KHQA News

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Darin LaHood	69.5%	31,361
Mike Flynn	27.8%	12,560
Donald Rients	2.7%	1,233
Total Votes		45,154
Source: KHQA News

2014

See also: Illinois' 18th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 18th Congressional District of Illinois held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Aaron Schock (R) defeated challenger Darrel Miller (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Aaron Schock Incumbent	74.7%	184,636
	Democratic	Darrel Miller	25.3%	62,377
Total Votes				247,013
Source: Illinois State Board of Elections Official Results

2012

See also: Illinois' 18th Congressional District elections, 2012

The 18th Congressional District of Illinois held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Aaron Schock won re-election in the district.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Aaron Schock Incumbent	74.2%	244,467
	Democratic	Steve Waterworth	25.8%	85,164
Total Votes				329,631
Source: Illinois Board of Elections "2012 General Election Official Vote Totals"

2010
On November 2, 2010, Aaron Schock won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Deirdre "D.K." Hirner (D) and Sheldon Schafer (Green) in the general election.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Aaron Schock incumbent	69.1%	152,868
	Democratic	Deirdre "D.K." Hirner	25.8%	57,046
	Green	Sheldon Schafer	5.1%	11,256
Total Votes				221,170

2008
On November 4, 2008, Aaron Schock won election to the United States House. He defeated Colleen Callahan (D) and Sheldon Schafer (Green) in the general election.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Aaron Schock	58.9%	182,589
	Democratic	Colleen Callahan	37.9%	117,642
	Green	Sheldon Schafer	3.2%	9,857
Total Votes				310,088

2006
On November 7, 2006, Ray LaHood won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Steve Waterworth (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ray LaHood incumbent	67.3%	150,194
	Democratic	Steve Waterworth	32.7%	73,052
Total Votes				223,246

2004
On November 2, 2004, Ray LaHood won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Steve Waterworth (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ray LaHood incumbent	70.2%	216,047
	Democratic	Steve Waterworth	29.8%	91,548
Total Votes				307,595

2002
Ray LaHood (R) ran unopposed for re-election in 2002.

2000
On November 7, 2000, Ray LaHood won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Joyce Harant (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Illinois District 18 General Election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ray LaHood incumbent	67.1%	173,706
	Democratic	Joyce Harant	32.9%	85,317
Total Votes				259,023

Redistricting

2020-2021

See also: Redistricting in Illinois after the 2020 census

Illinois enacted a congressional map on November 24, 2021, after Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed the proposal into law. The Illinois State Senate voted 41-18 in favor of the map on October 28, 2021, followed by the Illinois House of Representatives voting 71-43 in favor on October 29, 2021.

How does redistricting in Illinois work? The Illinois General Assembly is responsible for drawing both congressional and state legislative district lines. Both chambers of the state legislature must approve a redistricting plan. The governor may veto the lines drawn by the state legislature.

In the event that both chambers of the state legislature do not approve a legislative redistricting plan, a backup commission must draw the lines. The majority and minority leaders of each chamber must appoint two members each to the commission (one legislator and one general citizen). Of the eight commission members, no more than four may belong to the same political party. In the event that these eight members cannot approve a plan, the Illinois Supreme Court must select two individuals (from different political parties) as potential tiebreakers. The secretary of state must then appoint one of these individuals to the backup commission to break the tie.

The Illinois Constitution requires that state legislative districts be "contiguous and reasonably compact." There are no such requirements in place for the state's congressional districts.

State law also mandates the establishment of state legislative districts "that allow racial or language minority communities to elect--or influence the election of--the candidates of their choice, even if no comparable district would be required by the federal Voting Rights Act."

Illinois District 18
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

2010-2011

This is the 18th Congressional District of Illinois after the 2001 redistricting process.

See also: Redistricting in Illinois after the 2010 census

In 2011, the Illinois State Legislature re-drew the congressional districts based on updated population information from the 2010 census.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+15, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 15 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Illinois' 18th Congressional District the 84th most Republican nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.95. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.95 points toward that party.

See also

• Redistricting in Illinois
• Illinois' 18th Congressional District election, 2020

External links

• GovTrack District 18

Footnotes

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Illinois' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Tammy Duckworth (D)

Dick Durbin (D)

Representatives

District 1

Jonathan Jackson (D)

District 2

Robin Kelly (D)

District 3

Delia Ramirez (D)

District 4

Jesus Garcia (D)

District 5

Mike Quigley (D)

District 6

Sean Casten (D)

District 7

Danny Davis (D)

District 8

Raja Krishnamoorthi (D)

District 9

Jan Schakowsky (D)

District 10

Brad Schneider (D)

District 11

Bill Foster (D)

District 12

Mike Bost (R)

District 13

Nikki Budzinski (D)

District 14

Lauren Underwood (D)

District 15

Mary Miller (R)

District 16

Darin LaHood (R)

District 17

Eric Sorensen (D)

Democratic Party (16)

Republican Party (3)