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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Drug Treatment and Job Training Facility Looking for Permanence

Affordable Recovery in Blue Island services people from across the area, including from Evergreen Park, who are looking to kick drugs and alcohol by combining group therapy, strict chore regiments and vocational classes.

Wayne Keys flipped open his cell phone while walking through a hallway in the former Mother of Sorrows Catholic High School building, in an area where tenants made a makeshift movie theater with old coaches and sofas in front of a projection screen.  “Yes, we do offer recovery services, but not for women. It’s men only here,” Keys said into the phone. “But if you can wait just a bit, I’ll get you some numbers for women services, OK?” The 29-year-old former Army Ranger takes five other similar phone calls during an hour-long tour of Affordable Recovery’s Blue Island facility at 13811 S. Western Ave. As the central intake coordinator, Keys will often take over 100 phone calls a day, six days a week. Sign up for Evergreen Park Patch's daily …

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Rush ‘Pleased,’ Peloquin ‘Can’t Support’ Supreme Court Health Care Ruling

The Illinois 1st Congressional District Democrat and Republican candidates weighed in Thursday after the United States Supreme Court ruled that a major aspect of the Affordable Health Care Act is constitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 vote Thursday that the individual mandate, for all people to be insured, section of the Affordable Health Care Act is constitutional as a tax. But for the Republican candidate aiming to take over Rep. Bobby Rush’s seat as the 1st District congressman in Illinois, difficulties lie ahead. “It’s a lot more complicated than it should be to insure all Americans,” said Don Peloquin, mayor of Blue Island and the Republican candidate for the 1st District. “I still can’t support it even though the Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate is constitutional. It doesn’t help small businesses. It doesn’t help create jobs. And it probably will get more complex as it’s implemented.” Read on for more of …

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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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Rush and Peloquin Face Off for 1st Congressional District in November

The longtime Republican Blue Island mayor will challenge the nearly-just-as-longtime Democrat congressman for one of the most disparate congressional districts in Illinois.

Bobby Rush and Don Peloquin will be the two choices for the broad array of Illinois residents living among the new 1st Congressional District. The two will be vying for a territory that stretches from the inner-city through blue-collar suburbs out to the conservative suburbs and into rural Will County. The district starts just north of Chicago's Bronzeville community and extends out to Beverly and into several towns west of I-57, such as Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, Palos Heights, Alsip, Blue Island, Oak Forest, Midlothian and through Tinley Park, Orland Park, Orland Hills, Mokena, New Lenox, Frankfort and several other towns before hitting a rural southwest boundary in Elwood. Peloquin, 61, has served as Blue Island mayor since 1985 after …

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