Illinois Republican House incumbents stockpiling 2012 cash

WASHINGTON–Illinois House Republicans have been stockpiling their political warchests as most–especially the five GOP freshmen–face potentially tough 2012 re-election contests because of the Democratic drawn new district map.

Illinois Republicans in the U.S. House are poised to challenge the congressional map in federal court. Illinois state House and state Senate leaders filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday asking a judge to order legislative districts to be redrawn.

The money chase in the 2012 congressional races can be boiled down to this: Republican incumbent House members are raising money to survive in Illinois.

There are currently 19 districts. In 2012, Illinois will have 18 seats, so obviously all 19 incumbents cannot keep their seats.

Illinois Democratic leaders in the General Assembly in Springfield have the majority in both chambers and Illinois has a Democratic governor, Pat Quinn, so the remap process was entirely controlled by Democrats. Illinois Democrats drew safe districts for each of the eight Democratic House incumbents. The 11 GOP House incumbents–with the exception of Rep. Peter Roskam–in the new map all faced potential primaries where they could be pitted against each other or tough general elections in districts diluted of GOP votes.

That spurred Illinois GOP incumbents fund-raising efforts, as reflected in second quarter reports released last week and covering the quarter ending June. 30.

Findings, according to my analysis of Federal Election Commission filings (not counting political action committees a lawmaker may also run):

*The five Illinois GOP freshmen all face tough a tougher 2012 than 2010 because of the Democratic remap. Rep. Bob Dold (10th) was the best fund-raiser of the five, collecting $855,815 this year. While it is a good bet that he stays in the new 10th, there are two Democrats already actively campaigning for the seat, Brad Schneider and Ilya Sheyman. Dold stepped up his fund-raising in April, May and June–improving his first quarter take by 72 percent.

Dold has $751,369 cash on hand compared to $306,150 for Schneider and $60,255 for Sheyman.

Illinois GOP freshmen fund-raising receipts, January-June:

$855,815 Bob Dold (10th)

602,649 Joe Walsh (8th)

601,616 Adam Kinzinger (11th)

457,942 Randy Hultgren (14th)

324,671 Bobby Schilling (17th)

The Democrat race in the new eighth district has already started. Tammy Duckworth is new in the contest and did not have to file a June 30 report. Rival Raja Krishamoorthi has $403,335 cash-on-hand.

*Democrat Rep. Jerry Costello (12th) has the most cash-on-hand, $2,284,715; Democrat Bobby Rush (1st) has the least, $39,056.

*GOP House incumbents facing are stashing cash, with Rep. Peter Roskam (6th) leading with $1,740,201. He is the only Republican to have a safe GOP district created in the 2012 remap.

*Because of comparatively anemic cash-on-hand balances, GOP Reps. Randy Hultgren (14th) and Don Manzullo (16th) are leaving themselves vunerable to primary challenges from fellow GOP incumbents who have to find new districts to run from under the Democratic map.

Cash on hand for the Illinois congressional delegation:

$2,284,715 Jerry Costello (D-12th)

1,740,201 Peter Roskam (R-6th)

1,433,895 Aaron Schock (R-18th)

1,253,542 John Shimkus (R-19th)

751,881 Bob Dold (R-10th)

719,369 Judy Biggert (R-13th)

695,380 Dan Lipinski (D-3rd)

472,894 Joe Walsh (R-8th)

432,535 Mike Quigley (D-5th)

431,511 Adam Kinzinger (R-11th)

368,683 Jan Schakowsky (D-9th)