The Congressional representative for Illinois’s Fourth Congressional District, Luis Guitierrez, has decided not to run for re-election in 2018. From the Chicago Tribune:
Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez won’t seek re-election next year, sources said Monday night, setting off a domino effect in Chicago Latino politics.
Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy†Garcia plans to start gathering signatures on Tuesday to seek Gutierrez’s congressional seat, the sources said. And 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz plans to run for Garcia’s County Board seat, they added.
The decision marks a swift change from Monday morning, when Gutierrez’s campaign filed his paperwork to secure a spot on the March 20 primary ballot, and Garcia filed to seek re-election to the County Board.
There hasn’t been much reaction to the news as yet. Rep. Guitierrez is most generally known nationally as an immigration activist if not absolutist. IMO the Fourth District, one of the most gerrymandered in the country, should be reorganized with the Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Districts to form more compact districts. The reasoning that created the Fourth District (Rep. Guitierrez is the only representative to have served the district in anything like its present form), creating a guaranteed seat for a Hispanic Congressman, is no longer operative. The present district is probably preventing the election of multiple Hispanic Congressmen. Maybe that’s become its new purpose.
Commissioner Garcia forced Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election last time around so it would likely give him a firmer grip on his office if he chooses to run again, which just about everybody assumes he will. Otherwise it wouldn’t change the political dynamics much. All of the likely candidates believe in generally open borders, higher taxes, and expansion of government.
The manipulation in Illinois​ politics continues to amaze me.
Our only competition for the title of “Most Corrupt State” is Louisiana. Pretty rarified company.