WASHINGTON–Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), the chief deputy whip in the House, is the only Illinois GOP House member in great shape for the 2012 elections. His second quarter fund-raising totaled $462,522.14 and he has $1,740,201.12 cash on hand.
Roskam’s second quarter was better than his first, when he collected some $430,000.
The bottom line on Roskam is this: with his Chicago area and Washington fund-raising base–and his $1.7 million stockpile– he is impervious to any primary or general election challenge. So far, no Democrat has surfaced who is even remotely mulling mounting a viable race against Roskam.
Roskam is the only one of the 11 GOP House members from Illinois to have survived the conniving genius of the Democratic remap.
Illinois Democrats redrew districts to dilute GOP strongholds and make GOP held districts more Democratic–with the exception of Roskam’s turf. The lines were drawn to either dump Republican incumbents into districts already represented by a Democratic, or stuff two of them in the same GOP district. Illinois House Republicans are challenging the Democratic map in federal court.
Roskam’s 6th congressional district is mainly intact–and includes his home. From what I hear, while other Illinois House incumbents are strategizing over what district to run from under the new map–and a few may be pitted against each other-Roskam will run again from the new 6th.
Roskam also oversees a national leadership fund, called the Republican Operation to Secure and Keep a Majority (ROSKAM PAC)
FOOTNOTE: Former House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) dropped in on Roskam’s Capitol Hill office on Wednesday to visit with Roskam and his interns.
