Neha Patil (Editor)

Illinois's 17th congressional district

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Population (2011 est.)
  
711,719

Cook PVI
  
D+7

Median income
  
41,194

Area
  
17,956 km²

Illinois's 17th congressional district

Current Representative
  
Cheri Bustos (D–Moline)

Distribution
  
73.3% urban 26.7% rural

Ethnicity
  
82.9% White 11.5% Black 1.0% Asian 8.0% Hispanic 0.4% Native American 2.1% other

The 17th Congressional District of Illinois is represented by Democrat Cheri Bustos. It includes most of the northwestern portion of the state, with most of its population living on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, as well as parts of Peoria and Rockford.

Contents

The 17th congressional district has shifted northward after the 2012 redistricting. It lost Quincy and Decatur, as well as its share of Springfield. It was generally thought that the redrawn map would allow the district to revert to the Democrats, who held it without interruption from 1983 to 2011. As expected, one-term Republican incumbent Bobby Schilling was defeated by Democratic opponent Cheri Bustos in the 2012 election cycle.

2011 redistricting

The district covers parts of Peoria, Tazewell and Winnebago counties, and all of Carroll, Fulton, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox, Mercer, Rock Island, Stephenson, Warren and Whiteside counties, as of the 2011 redistricting which followed the 2010 census. All or parts of Canton, East Moline, Freeport, Galesburg, Kewanee, Moline, Peoria, Rock Island, Rockford, Pekin and Sterling are included. The representatives for these districts were elected in the 2012 primary and general elections, and the boundaries became effective on January 5, 2013.

History

From 2003 to 2013 the district was known as "the rabbit on a skateboard" for its unusual shape devised as the outcome of gerrymandering. The boundaries were drawn in a bipartisan deal to protect both Democratic incumbent Lane Evans and neighboring Republican incumbents. The lines of the district were drawn to move Republican voters into neighboring districts and to include Democratic neighborhoods in Springfield and Decatur.

Living former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 17th congressional district

As of May 2015, two former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 17th congressional district are alive. The most recent representative to die was Lane Evans (1983-2007) on November 5, 2014.

References

Illinois's 17th congressional district Wikipedia