Inspired by a choice in today’s 538 chat in which this election was one of the pick’s as a bellwether to follow. A well educated well off suburban district that can flip in presidential elections but still votes GOP for Congress.
Peter Roskam has been in office since 2006 when he beat Tammy Duckworth for the seat and is high up in the House food chain. The district has been GOP for House, like, forever, and he won it in 2016 by 19% even as the district went for Clinton by 7.
Sean Casten, winner of a crowded field on the D side, is a political newcomer, a scientist by training (master’s degrees in engineering management and biochemical engineering), and is President and CEO of Turbosteam/Recycled Energy Development. Pitch is his background in science and belief in facts. Supports full universal healthcare as what should be and shoring up Obamacare as what needs to be done now, immigration reform, and most of all is disgusted by climate change denial.
Cook considers it a “Republican toss up” and currently R+2.
I’m betting Casten by more than 2 with a swing of over 20 from the last House race.
I live in that gerrymandered district, and I’m hopeful we’ll dump that ass Roskam. Runaway Roskam we call him. Won’t meet with constituents. Literally runs away when people try to talk to him unless it’s a handpicked small group of GOP voters.
In his defense, Peter Roskam knows how to live large. The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) called for a full investigation of an October 2011 trip by Roskam and his wife to Taiwan. The OCE said it was basically paid for by the Taiwanese government. Roskam arranged for funding by the Chinese Culture University so his wife could attend the junket. The OCE thought that this was an unethical circumvention, given that Roskam’s contact with the Taiwanese government was the one who arranged the extra funding (about $24,000).
Eh, small potatoes. Still there’s wide consensus that malgovernance was involved; it’s just that Peter Roskam believes that it centered on Congress’s ethical watchdog. So on January 2, 2017, Roskam vocally supported a measure to eliminate the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics, placing it under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, a measure that some described as dissolving the office.[1] Peter Roskam - Wikipedia I find it inspiring that a Congressional representative could feel so unencumbered by a sense of shame.
At any rate, I can understand why Roskam dodges reporters as well as his constituents: defending terrible policies is hard work. I say that after November 4, Roskam deserves a long break from campaigning and governing.
https://twitter.com/IndivisibleDPGE
[1] Second sentence of post borrowed from politico. This sentence was mine, contributed to wiki early last year. “Some” is Crain’s Business IIRC.
Dang. It’s a bit of a tangent but that is one ugly gerrymandered shape! This one done by the D side … what did that specific gerrymander accomplish? What motivated it? Despite the fact that it’s been reliable GOP for House 538’s atlas calls it “highly competitive”. One of only three in the state. And 538 ranks Illinois as having a partisan efficiency advantage of R+6, not to D at all. Looking into it, gerrymandering there seems to be have done to “preserve the careers of incumbents of both parties.”
Speculation is the Dems wanted to contain the Republican areas in as few districts as possible. We joke that our lines carefully go around areas that aren’t WASPy enough. But it sucks. I will say my little suburb is much bluer than you’d imagine. Flip the 6th!
And yes, we have to travel pretty far when we want to protest Runaway Roskam. It’s a bit irritating.
Don’t care, I’m happy that I was gerrymandered out of Roskam’s district BY ONE FREAKIN’ BLOCK!!! Instead I’m represented by the first South Asian in Congress.
In that same 538 chat they talk extensively about CA 45. My sister lives in that district and is very active politically. Right now she is a volunteer on one of the Dem’s campaigns.
Instead I’m represented by 
