Election 2012: Did Suburban Cook and Will Counties Choose Peloquin or Rush?

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush hung on to his 1st Congressional District seat for another two years, but did his new constituents south and southwest of city get behind him in the election?

Election 2012: Did Suburban Cook and Will Counties Choose Peloquin or Rush?

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush hung on to his 1st Congressional District seat for another two years, but did his new constituents south and southwest of city get behind him in the election?

Democrat Bobby Rush will continue to serve as the 1st Congressional Representative, even after redistricting included more municipalities further from Chicago. But most of the townships where his new constituents live did not vote for him. Don Peloquin, the mayor of Blue Island who ran against Rush as a Republican, won all but two of the suburban Cook County and Will County townships, including many of the new areas now included in the 1st District. Only Calumet and Thornton townships placed more votes for Rush in suburban Cook County and Will County. Chicago precincts were a different story, with Rush receiving 181,032 votes compared to 6,574 votes for Peloquin. Here are the vote counts from suburban Cook and Will counties, and by …

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Bobby Rush Wins 11th Term in Congress

Within the redrawn 1st Congressional District, Bobby Rush will keep his seat for two more years as suburban voters weren't enough to propel Don Peloquin to a win.

Bobby Rush will continue to represent the 1st Congressional District of Illinois on Capitol Hill after winning his 11th term Tuesday. As of 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, Rush took in 212,661 votes, compared to 70,903 votes for challenger Don Peloquin, who campaigned as the Republican nominee for the seat. The count was with 582 of 617 precincts reporting from Suburban Cook County, Will County and Chicago. The new 1st Congressional District now holds a northeast boundary just around Chicago’s Bronzeville community, continuing near the Dan Ryan and along I-57, before cutting west, including towns south of I-80, before ending at rural Elwood at its farthest southwest point. The district includes Chicago neighborhoods, such as Hyde Park, Washington Park…

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Peloquin: We Can Rebuild Our Economy With What We Have

Blue Island Mayor Don Peloquin, who is the Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District Race against incumbent Democrat Bobby Rush, shared his views on ways to simplify taxes and bolster local business.

Don Peloquin, Blue Island mayor and Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District, believes the redrawn district can build off of the resources already here to grow the local economy. He is for smaller government and a simplified tax code for all Americans. Democrat incumbent Bobby Rush, Peloquin's opponent in the race, has not answered Patch's request for an interview. Read more about Peloquin's views on several issues including health care, the economy and others in our Patch Questionnaire. Read Rush's answers to our questionnaire. Looking for other 1st District race stories?

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Can Peloquin’s Votes Outside the City Beat Rush’s Chicago Numbers?

Don Peloquin may have taken in more votes in the suburbs during last week’s primary election, but that number didn’t come close to what Bobby Rush pulled within Chicago city limits.

The 1st Congressional District covers an almost comically diverse landscape. Starting on the north end at 26th Street and Michigan Avenue, down Martin Luther King Drive to the Dan Ryan at the Skyway and further south, including neighborhoods just east and west of the highway. But the new district then continues down I-57, stretching past Harlem Avenue to LaGrange Road, continuing south and west to Highway 53, all the way to the 2,300-population town of Elwood. All residents in this area will have their interests represented in Congress by either Democrat Incumbent 1st District Rep. Bobby Rush or Republican Blue Island Mayor Don Peloquin. Rush handily won far more votes in Chicago alone with 55,196 votes to Peloquin’s 599 as of Tuesday. But…

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March 2012 Primary Election Headquarters

Log onto Patch to find out the latest information about the March 2012 primary elections.

Evergreen Park Resident Files to Run for U.S. Congress

An Evergreen Park resident joins four other candidates running for Illinois' 1st Congressional District.

On the final day to file a petition to run for Congress in Illinois' newly re-mapped districts, more than 75 people entered the race, including one man from Evergreen Park, the Chicago Tribune said Tuesday. Resident and U.S. Army veteran Fred Smith filed to run against incumbent 1st District Democratic U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush along with three Chicago residents Jordan Sims, Clifford Russell Jr. and Raymond Lodato. Smith, who currently works as a program director at a youth care agency, also filed in 2010. The candidates filed petitions to run for congress in Illinois' 18 districts, one less district since the state was re-mapped. The state lost one seat because Illinois' population grew slower than that of other states in the last decade. …

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Jordan Sims Announces Run for 1st District Congressional Seat

Online commentator and lifelong resident of the Beverly/Morgan Park area will face U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, Sun-Times Media report says.

Blue Island Mayor Mulls Congressional Run Against Bobby Rush

Republican Donald Peloquin, the Blue Island mayor, is talking with family and business partners about running for the 1st Congressional District.

Although many Illinois Republicans have seen the redrawn congressional maps as an outrage, the president of Hickey Memorial Chapel in New Lenox sees an opportunity. Under the new map, which the GOP is challenging in court, Chicago Democratic stalwart Bobby Rush's 1st Congressional District, which includes Evergreen Park, extends through the south suburbs to Elwood. But Hickey President Donald Peloquin, who is also the Republican mayor of Blue Island, said he's considering a run against Rush. "The new mapping puts about 15 towns in the district now, and I probably know 10 of the mayors pretty well," Peloquin said. "I think there's a real opportunity for us to work together and this district is prime to be developed and create more jobs." …

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Evergreen Park Remains in 1st District, But It'll Be Much Bigger

Bobby Rush's district now stretches from the inner-city, through Evergreen and out to Elwood. The GOP says it will challenge the map in court.

Evergreen Park remains in the 1st Congressional District under a new map signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn today. Now, however, Bobby Rush's district has nearly doubled in size, extending all the way out to Will County, as far southwest as Frankfort and Elwood. The northern-most portion of the district still dips into Chicago's inner-city neighborhoods. The Democratic-drawn map of new congressional boundaries is designed to reverse Republican gains in last year’s election, according to the Chicago Tribune. More than just reflecting population shifts, the map lines also reflect the political power of controlling the cartography. The map pits some incumbent Republicans against others, stretches boundaries to allow incumbent Chicago Democrats…

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