SPRINGFIELD - A first look at the congressional races show Illinois Democrats were successful in taking advantage of newly-drawn US House congressional districts to turn four Republican into Democratic districts.
Voters put Democrat Congress members Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr, Dan Lipinski, Luis Gutierrez, Mike Quigley, Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky back into office with overwhelming support.
Republican House members Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren, Adam Kinzinger, Aaron Schock and John Shimkus also were re-elected with generous support from their constituents.
It was the effort to unseat Congressman Joe Walsh, Bob Dold, Judy Biggert and Bobby Schilling that caused the major change in the Illinois delegation. Instead, in January, Tammy Duckworth, Brad Schneider, Bill Foster and Cheri Bustos will be representing Illinois.
Two downstate races had mixed results for Republicans - Democrat Bill Enyart won over Republican Jason Plummer to succeed retiring Democrat Jerry Costello and Republican Rodney Davis narrowly defeated Democrat Dr. David Gill to succeed retiring Republican Tim Johnson.
