New congressional map splits La Salle County in two

With the announcement Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) will not run for a seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives, La Salle County communities learned they would be getting a new representative for the first time since 2011.

On top of it, Illinois lawmakers’ new congressional redistricting plan approved Oct. 29 split the county into two congressional districts — possibly with the northern portion represented by a Democrat and the southern portion by a Republican, if the incumbents retain their seats.

The 16th Congressional District, which is now represented by Kinzinger, was expanded south to include U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood’s (R-Dunlap) district, which was eliminated as the state lost population in the latest census. If Kinzinger ran for re-election, he would seemingly have been in a primary battle with LaHood, who was elected to his third full term in office last November and announced he will run for re-election.

The 14th Congressional District, which is represented by U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville), now will include Ottawa, La Salle, Peru, Spring Valley, Oglesby, Utica, Marseilles, Seneca, DePue, Mendota, Earlville, Leland, Sheridan and Somonauk. The district takes in Joliet, DeKalb, Oswego and Yorkville as well.

On the other side of the congressional district split, Streator, Grand Ridge, Lostant and Ransom are among the communities that will remain in the 16th District. The district stretches as far south as LeRoy and Downs to the east of Bloomington-Normal and extends through Woodford, Marshall, Putnam, Bureau, Lee and Ogle counties to Winnebago County where it reaches the Wisconsin and Iowa border in Jo Daviess County — the state’s northwest point. The district will include Princeton, Wenona, Toluca, Flanagan, Henry, LaMoille, Wyanut, Walnut, Amboy and Dixon.

In previous congressional map drawings, La Salle County was divided into four districts with the city of La Salle split into three districts with them converging at the corner of O’Conor and St. Vincent avenues. The new district boundaries keep La Salle, Peru and Spring Valley within the same district.

Illinois’ congressional delegation is currently divided 13-5 in favor of Democrats. Independent analysts, including the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project, have estimated earlier iterations of the plan would give Democrats as many as 14 seats, and Republicans as few as three, reported Capitol News Illinois.

If that holds true, it could have national implications because Democratic congressional leaders are looking to states like Illinois and New York to help offset losses they expect to take in states where Republicans control the redistricting process, reported Capitol News Illinois.

Using results from the past general election, the county was split in who it favored for president. While Republican Donald Trump garnered 56% of the votes countywide, Ottawa and La Salle precincts cast more votes for Democrat Joe Biden. Ottawa and La Salle’s new district will have a Democratic incumbent.

Streator precincts turned out the highest percentage for Trump and those precincts will remain in a district with a Republican incumbent.

— Capitol News Illinois reporters Jerry Nowicki and Peter Hancock contributed to this report.