New Congressional Map Shifts Romeoville from 13th Congressional District to 3rd District

Republican leaders are vowing to fight a new Congressional map they say favors Democrats.

On Friday morning, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a redrawn map of state Congressional district boundaries that places Romeoville largely in the 3^rd Illinois U.S. Congressional District, under Democrat Rep. Dan Lipinski. Previously, Romeoville was part of the 13^th Congressional District under Republican Rep. Judy Biggert.

The rest of Romeoville would be part of a new 11^th District. Currently, the 11^th district is represented by freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Under the new map, Kinzinger now resides in the new 2^nd Congressional District, long represented by Democrat Jesse Jackson Jr.

In a joint statement, Republican U.S. legislators from Illinois districts pledged to challenge the new map in court, and lambasted Quinn for signing a “flawed map” into law. Leading the charge is former U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Oswego.

“Governor Quinn said that a fair redistricting process required hearings. Yet the map was unveiled on a Friday and passed the following Monday, with no hearings,” Republican legislators said in the statement. “Governor Quinn said that the way in which district lines are drawn contributes to the success of our democracy. Yet the map he approved seeks to reverse the results of a democratic election. Governor Quinn advocated for a fair and open process. Instead, he has guaranteed an unfair and closed one.”

Quinn did not hold a public press conference regarding the bill signing.

“I have carefully reviewed the congressional redistricting map. This map is fair, maintains competitiveness within congressional districts and protects the voting rights of minority communities," Quinn said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Under the new map, the 3^rd District covers substantially more communities moving west, including Romeoville, Palos Hills, Palos Heights, Homer Glen, Lemont, Lockport and Crest Hill.

The 13^th District moves to an entirely different part of the state to include Champaign and Bloomington, and then stretches southwest to St. Louis.

Romeoville Mayor John Noak declined to comment on the new districts.