Kinzinger to run in Illinois' 16th District

December 15, 2011 (CHICAGO) -- ABC 7 News has learned Congressman Adam Kinzinger will run in the newly drawn 16th Congressional District.

Kinzinger, a freshman congressman, currently represents the 11th District. Republican Congressman Don Manzullo currently holds the 16th congressional seat. He is a 10-term congressman from northwest Illinois. Kinzinger expects to go up against Manzullo in the Republican primary.

Kinzinger's announcement comes after a federal court upheld a new congressional map drawn by Illinois Democrats.

The map preserves existing Democratic-leaning districts and creates new ones. It also forces several Republican incumbents to run against each other in primaries.

Republicans had sued to overturn the map, claiming that Democrats drew only one Hispanic district when more were needed because of population growth.

A panel of three judges, including two Indiana Republicans, disagreed on Thursday.

In their ruling, the judges said that they agreed that the crafting of the adopted map was a "blatant political move to increase the number of Democratic congressional seats" but that it wasn't illegal.

The map was drawn by Democrats who control the legislature and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Get more Illinois News »

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•