“No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.”
That’s from Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and it’s relevant today as Illinoisans digest the first draft of Democrats’ proposed Congressional maps for the next decade.
Released late last week, the maps deal with Illinois’ loss of one Congressional district following the 2020 Census. Early analysis projects the 2022 election would result in 14 Democrats heading to Congress and just three Republicans; the current breakdown is 13-5.
How do Democrats subtract two Republicans? By pitting veteran U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, against freshman U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, D-La Grange, in the new Third District while also forcing U.S. Rep. Darin La Hood, R-Dunlap, to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, in the new 16th.
However, Kinzinger hasn’t fully committed to pursuing a seventh term. Months before the map draft hit, GOP primary challengers started kicking rhetorical rocks at the incumbent and each other. Democrats might be confident they gave Newman a winnable district regardless of Republican opponent, but they probably didn’t expect her 2020 primary foe, former U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, to float a revival of his political career.
Another presumption on the road to 14-3 is that new maps create a smooth path for whomever emerges as the replacement for U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, who announced on April 30 she wouldn’t seek a sixth term.
Yet all these hypotheticals rely on Republican candidates hewing to the spirit of Article I, Section 2, and not the letter, which clearly doesn’t stipulate a candidate must live in the Congressional district they seek to represent.
State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, understood this when she entered the 14th Congressional District primary in 2019, despite living nearby in the 16th. Rezin finished second, just ahead of Catalina Lauf, a 14th District resident who since has campaigned against Kinzinger in the 16th.
What’s to stop Kizninger – or any Republican – from running in whatever district they feel is most winnable? The vast majority of U.S. House members live in their district, with good reason, but as Republicans fight from underneath in Illinois, voters eager to undermine Democrats’ machinations might find such bravado encouraging.
Illinois went 58-40 blue in the last presidential election, an equivalent Congressional split would be 10-7. The nationwide popular vote was 51-47, and the current House balance is 220-212, slightly more red than expected.
Congressional Republicans aren’t backing legislation forcing nonpartisan mapping commissions. Could running wherever they please similarly undercut gerrymandering? There’s only one way to know.
• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.
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