Congressman Mark Kirk --- Thoughtful Independent Leadership ---

Back to Story List

Pioneer Press,
Dec 03, 2004

Tough Fight Predicted for 2006 Congress

BY JOHN ROSZKOWSKI
STAFF WRITER

Spurred by recent election successes, Democrats are gearing up for a probable vigorous challenge to Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk in the 10th Congressional District in two years.

Republicans, meanwhile, hope to reclaim the 8th Congressional District seat they lost when longtime U.S. Rep. Phil Crane was defeated.

Pete Couvall, first vice chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party, said the party is putting "a strong focus" on finding a quality candidate to run in the 10th District in 2006.

"We're going to have a good, strong candidate against Mark Kirk in two years," said Couvall. "We're already working on it. It's way to early to announce a name. We're talking to some people right now, one especially who would be an excellent candidate."

Despite Kirk's easy re-election wins in 2002 and 2004, many Democratic Party officials think he may be vulnerable against the right candidate. Party officials say the 10th District has been leaning Democratic, with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry carrying the district with 53 percent of the vote this year and Democratic incumbents winning re-election in all the state legislative races.

Kirk of Highland Park was first elected to Congress in 2000, defeating former Democratic state legislator Lauren Beth Gash by a narrow margin. He easily won his re-election bids with more than 60 percent of the vote, defeating Democratic opponents Henry "Hank" Perritt of Glencoe in 2002 and Lee Goodman of Northbrook this year.

Kirk, who has portrayed himself as a moderate Republican, said he always expects to face competition in elections but believes he has been successful because of his strong record serving the district.
"You have to earn the vote each and every time," said Kirk. "It's very heartening that despite whatever else is happening on the election front, we have won our last two elections by almost a 2-to-1 margin. The best campaign I can wage is to be a good congressman and then leave it up to the voters."

Meanwhile, Republicans plan to wage a strong campaign to recapture the 8th Congressional District seat in two years, which they lost when Democrat Melissa Bean unseated Crane.

"We are going to have a lot of people lining up for the Republican (nomination) in the 8th District in two years," said JoAnn Osmond, chairwoman of the Lake County Republican Party. "We are going to need to work very hard whoever the nominee is. Hopefully, we're going to have a lot of strong Republicans."

"The 8th Congressional District is still a very conservative Republican district," said State Rep. Bob Churchill, R-62nd, of Lake Villa. "I fully expect the Republicans to win it next time."