All of Southern Illinois will be in the 12th Congressional District under the proposed US House Congressional District Map unveiled by Illinois Democrats on Friday.
The map puts all of Southern Illinois from Bond County to Southern Fayette and Effingham Counties into one district. Part of the St. Louis Metropolitan area is carved out and is part of a thin district that picks up the Springfield, Decatur, and Champaign areas.
The district that includes the rest of Fayette and Effingham Counties goes north along the Indiana border to just south of the Chicago Metropolitan area and then connects to a thin strip and goes nearly to the Wisconsin border picking up the City of Freeport.
The map puts Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger in the same left-leaning district as first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Newman. The district currently held by GOP Rep. Rodney Davis was redrawn to include more Democrat-friendly territory and not Davis’ hometown. Congresswoman Mary Miller and Representative Darin LaHood have both been thrown into the same district that strips Miller of most of her current district.
Lawmakers are scheduled to meet in Springfield to pass the new maps before the end of the month. The Democrats hope the map will give them an advantage in elections over the next decade as the party fights to keep control of the US House in 2022.
Southern Illinois, outside of Metro-East would all be one district under the Democrat’s plan.
