Remap forcing GOP lawmakers to pick new districts

CHICAGO — U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger is certain he'll seek a second term — he just doesn't know in which of Illinois' 18 congressional districts. Veteran congresswoman Judy Biggert isn't sure either, after being drawn out of her district in a Democrat-led state remapping that tries to erase recent Republican gains in Congress.

Across the state, Illinois' GOP members of Congress are being forced to launch their 2012 re-election bids amid an atmosphere of uncertainty as they wait to see whether a federal court in Chicago upholds the congressional map signed into law by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. It throws many of them out of their old districts and into unfriendly Democratic territory or forces them to run against each other.

Biggert and Kinzinger were among 10 of the 11 Republicans in Illinois' congressional delegation who joined a lawsuit against the state in a longshot challenge over the new map. Democrats were in charge of map-making because they control the Illinois Legislature and the governor's office. Republicans have submitted an alternative map to the court, which is scheduled to hear the case starting on Nov. 17.

"I've always just said I'm running, I don't know where yet, but I'm running," said Biggert, from the western Chicago suburb of Hinsdale.

If the Democrats' map stands, she'll run in the 11th Congressional District, where she doesn't live. But if the court adopts the Republican plan, she would run in that map's 13th District, where she does live.

Republicans also claim the map discriminates against Latino voters by packing most into one district and diluting their voting strength in other places, although some Latino groups support the map.

The importance of Illinois' legal skirmish involves simple arithmetic: Democrats nationally are out to win back control of the U.S. House after losing it last year to the GOP, which sent five Illinois freshmen, including Kinzinger, to Washington.

Now, Kinzinger will be forced to hunt for a new home — literally — regardless of which map ultimately is used.

The Democrats' map moved the Manteno resident's home into Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, a Democrat-friendly district where he won't run, and where a high-profile primary battle is shaping up there between Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former Rep. Debbie Halvorson, who lost her seat in 2010 to Kinzinger in another district. Instead, Kinzinger would run in the 16th Congressional District, which would force a primary battle with incumbent nine-term GOP Rep. Don Manzullo.