Dekalb county Illinois

[thebeloitmoderate]

This county is by the Chicago metro area but serves in Rockford TV. Why is Dekalb itself home to NIU in IL-16 while Sycamore which does not has a college and similar to Belvidere in IL-14? (NOTE) before redistricting 

[Drew]

10 years ago, both districts were considered to be GOP sinks, so there wasn’t a huge motivation to gerrymander those two towns.

[muon2]

One of the Dem's goals in 2011 was to configure CDs 6, 8, and 14 in a way to create a Dem district and prevent Joe Walsh from returning (Pelosi really wanted him out). CD 8 (Walsh) was made D+8.

That meant that the primary bases for CD 6 and 14 had to be secure for Roskam and Hultgren respectively while minimizing Walsh's base. Sycamore is far more conservative than DeKalb and Hultgren represented Sycamore prior to the 2012 election, so that stayed in CD 14. College Republicans at NIU are transient and could well go for Walsh in a 2012 primary so the campus shifted to CD 16. The 6th and 14th CDs wrapped up to the north to split Walsh's old CD in half.

The importance of Roskam and Hultgren was such that CD 14 has a finger that reaches past Fermilab almost to Wheaton where Roskam lived. The map carefully put Hultgren's house in CD 14 such that his property backed up to the line at the eastern end of that finger.