This is a surprise. Johnson has a mediocre record, but he represents a district that’s marginal and which voted for Obama. Rodney Davis seems to be well-regarded by political insiders, but has he ever been elected to anything? The one big plus is that the Democrat nominee is a leftist perennial candidate.
Rep. Johnson is conservative. He’s pro-tax cuts, pro-spending cuts, pro-life, and pro-gun rights. However, I’m glad that he’ll retire, since he’s been in Congress long enough. I hope that Sen. Brady will run for Congress and that State Rep. Poe will run for Brady’s senate seat.
The district is not really that marginal, Obama vastly out performed normal rat percentages in IL. Johnson’s new district certianly voted for Bush in 2004 as it was only 55% Obama in 2008.
I would be thrilled if they would consider Manzullo (whom Johnson endorsed over Kingz) but they won’t.
I agree with AUH20 , the state has no authority to apply a sore loser law to federal races so that would not be an impediment. (just like they wouldn’t be able to stop the impeached Blago from running for Congress when he gets out they can only ban him from state or local offices) Rather the impediment is that choosing Manzullo would be too intelligent a decision for IL GOP bosses to make because they are stupid.
In any case good riddance to Johnson, sounds like a nice guy, good constituent services, but not conservative enough. I just hope they don’t choose some assclown.