Former Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson Running for Newly Drawn Chicago Congressional Seat

October 6, 2011

CRETE, IL – After a lifetime of service to the communities of the 2nd District, creating jobs and fighting for ethical government, Debbie Halvorson will announce Thursday, October 6th, at 9:30am that she will seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois.

Halvorson will make the announcement at Skyline Restaurant in Chicago Heights, across the street from Bloom High School where both her and her father went to school. Halvorson will be joined by supporters from across the district and will then talk to patrons at the restaurant about the need to create jobs and the importance of ethical representation.

A lifelong resident of the Chicagoland area, Halvorson grew up in the 2nd District, going to school as a young child through her time at Governors State University, and raising her children there as a single mother. Halvorson has served the 2nd District on the local, state, and federal level for nearly two decades. Halvorson served as the Township Clerk of Crete from 1993 to 1996. From 1997 to 2009, Halvorson represented the 40th State Senate District of Illinois, which included Thornton Township, eastern Will County, and Kankakee County, all of which are currently located in the newly drawn 2nd District. After her tenure as Senate Majority Leader, Halvorson ran for Congress, where she served during the 111th Congress.

“Our families are facing serious challenges, and they need a serious Member of Congress who can get things done. Our neighbors don’t need rhetoric, they need results, and I’ve delivered actual results for nearly twenty years. I’m running to bring real representation, real leadership, and real results back to our district.”

Chicago Tribune – Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson will challenge Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.in the Democratic primary, setting up what could be one of Illinois’ most fiercely contested races next March.

Read the ElectWomen Magazine feature story on Debbie Halvorson – click here.

The longtime nemeses will face each other in the redrawn 2nd Congressional District that stretches from the South Side to Kankakee. Halvorson and Jackson have feuded bitterly over control of a proposed third regional airport near Peotone.

But an added impetus to Halvorson’s entry into the contest may have come as she was seeking to become Illinois secretary of transportation after losing her congressional seat.

In March, Jackson issued a statement calling Halvorson “not qualified” for the job and warning Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn that considering her for the post “would be an outrageous slap in the face” of voters in the south suburbs. Quinn subsequently ruled her out for the job.

Halvorson entered the contest saying she’ll do a better job than Jackson in Congress.

“Our families are facing serious challenges, and they need a serious member of Congress who can get things done,” Halvorson, a former one-term congresswoman and 12-year state senator from Crete, said in a statement.

“Our neighbors don’t need rhetoric, they need results, and I’ve delivered actual results for nearly twenty years. I’m running to bring real representation, real leadership, and real results back to our district,” she said.

Halvorson had represented the state’s 11th Congressional District, which included the far south and southwest suburbs and parts of north central Illinois, until being defeated by Republican Adam Kinzinger last November.

Democrats, who controlled the redrawing of state congressional districts following the 2010 census, shifted Jackson’s district farther south and southwest from Chicago as they tried to preserve an African-American majority population even as the state lost one congressional seat.

Part of Halvorson’s old district was drawn into Jackson’s new district. Kinzinger, the 11th District Republican from Manteno, already has said he will challenge 16th District Republican U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo of Egan if the Democratic-drawn map survives a GOP court challenge.

For more from the Chicago Tribune, click here.