IL-18: LaHood not running for re-election

[Sam Spade]

This was a 58% Bush CD in 2004.

Likely candidates appear to be Dem State Senator John Sullivan and GOP State Reps Aaron Schock and David Leitch, among others.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0707/Ray_LaHood_announces_retirement.html

[Flying Dog]

Strong Lean R

[muon2]

The Peoria Journal-Star has a good take on the early contenders. Rep. Schock is a dynamite campaigner who won a state rep seat at the age of 22 against a D incumbent in a 60-40 D district three years ago.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I drove through this district this weekend. Talk about BORING. Even ND has more interesting scenery than here.

Still not as hickish as IL-15 though. That might as well be Mississippi. I could barely understand the people in the gas stations there because their drawls were so thick.

[muon2]

I drove through this district this weekend. Talk about BORING. Even ND has more interesting scenery than here.

Still not as hickish as IL-15 though. That might as well be Mississippi. I could barely understand the people in the gas stations there because their drawls were so thick.

Which part of the district were you in? Peorians have little drawl to my north-midwestern ear. I agree that it can get thick in southern and southeastern IL, particularly south of I-64.

Also I'm a bit surprised by your thoughts of the scenery. Granted there's a lot of flat farmland, but the Illinois River valley has a bit of interest compared to the plains.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I-74 that runs through Peoria. No one in Peoria sounded different from most people in Minnesota, but Danville and that area around it, might as well be the south. And I mostly just saw lots of flat empty farmland and not much else.

[muon2]

I-74 that runs through Peoria. No one in Peoria sounded different from most people in Minnesota, but Danville and that area around it, might as well be the south. And I mostly just saw lots of flat empty farmland and not much else.

I apologize that I'm engaging you on two separate threads. I find Danville to be like central IN. If you want southern sound in IL try going about two or three counties further south from there.

I can see that if you stay on I-74 you miss the valley since all you see is the city of Peoria. It would be like going on I-35 from Des Moines to Duluth. You would hardly recognize the features of the Mississippi/Minnesota valley since it's largely lost in the urban area. But obviously it's quite different from the sourrounding flatlands as one goes southeast towards Red Wing.

[HardRCafé]

Good riddance.  Good luck to Schock.

[Sam Spade]

State Sen. John Sullivan (D) will not be running for the seat.

State Rep. David Leitch (R) says that if State Rep. Adam Schock (R) runs for the seat, it is "very unlikely" he would run.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0807/Democratic_recruit_opts_not_to_run_in_LaHoods_district.html

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Good riddance.  Good luck to Schock.

What he said.

[muon2]

A couple of additional Rs are looking at the race.

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And then there's LaHood's son, though many expect him to be more interested in the State's Attorney race.

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[HardRCafé]

Darin LaHood < Daniel Lipinski

[muon2]

Rep. Schock has announced that he's in. I expect him to draw the majority of endorsements and support. He raised over a million in the last cycle for his state house seat.

[Keystone Phil]

Rep. Schock has announced that he's in. I expect him to draw the majority of endorsements and support. He raised over a million in the last cycle for his state house seat.

A 26 year old State Representative raising over a million for a State House race? Rising star, anyone?

[minionofmidas]

The Peoria Journal-Star has a good take on the early contenders. Rep. Schock is a dynamite campaigner who won a state rep seat at the age of 22 against a D incumbent in a 60-40 D district three years ago.

I assume that that's partisan registration, and the 2004 presidential result looks quite different? What kind of district is it?

EDIT: Entirely in Peoria County, which is worth about 1.8 districts or so. Probably fairly urban, then.

[Sam Spade]

The Peoria Journal-Star has a good take on the early contenders. Rep. Schock is a dynamite campaigner who won a state rep seat at the age of 22 against a D incumbent in a 60-40 D district three years ago.

I assume that that's partisan registration, and the 2004 presidential result looks quite different? What kind of district is it?

EDIT: Entirely in Peoria County, which is worth about 1.8 districts or so. Probably fairly urban, then.

I don't know exactly how Peoria County is split up and I can't find an actual map of the Illinois General Assembly districts for this decade, nor anything about precinct data.  As I'm sure you know, Peoria was about 50-50 in the 2004 general.

muon2 can probably answer the rest of our questions.

[muon2]

The Peoria Journal-Star has a good take on the early contenders. Rep. Schock is a dynamite campaigner who won a state rep seat at the age of 22 against a D incumbent in a 60-40 D district three years ago.

I assume that that's partisan registration, and the 2004 presidential result looks quite different? What kind of district is it?

EDIT: Entirely in Peoria County, which is worth about 1.8 districts or so. Probably fairly urban, then.

I don't know exactly how Peoria County is split up and I can't find an actual map of the Illinois General Assembly districts for this decade, nor anything about precinct data.  As I'm sure you know, Peoria was about 50-50 in the 2004 general.

muon2 can probably answer the rest of our questions.

Here's a link to the official map. The 92nd district is entirely urban Peoria, and was expected to be safe D when the map was drawn. The 91st Rep and 46th Senate (which includes those two rep seats) are held by Dems as intended by the mappers. The northern part of Peoria has the newer subdivisions and rural area and is in the safely R 73rd.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I don't understand how Schock won election in the first place.  Didn't Ricca Slone make it clear enough that he was a dirty queer? 

[muon2]

I don't understand how Schock won election in the first place.  Didn't Ricca Slone make it clear enough that he was a dirty queer? 

Rep. Slone had her own problems. The Peoria Pundit had this analysis including the following:

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