Bustos Won't Run for Re-Election
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-Moline) surprised onlookers Friday when she announced she won’t run for re-election in 2022.
The Friday news dump struck again. This time, one of the top congressional Democrats from Illinois announced she’s leaving Washington at the end of this term. Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-Moline) made the surprise announcement Friday, calling it quits in Congress after ten years in office.
“As I turn every corner on each decade of life, I take time to reflect and evaluate what my next chapter might bring,” Bustos said in a statement. “That’s how, 10 years ago, I decided to run for Congress. And it’s why, today, I am announcing I will not seek reelection after completing this term.”
Bustos was first elected in 2012 and rose up the ranks of House Democrats, getting coveted committee assignments and serving as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2020 campaign.
“When Cheri Bustos called last night to tell me her decision, I knew we were losing one of our best,” Senator Dick Durbin said in a statement. “She is honest, effective, and part of the new wave of women changing Washington.
Democrats in her district know it will be difficult to replace her with someone with as much clout as she built.
“You don’t get a position in leadership without working hard and being recognized and she did exactly that,” said Rock Island County Democratic Party Chair Derek Jones. “She worked extremely hard. She was the Appropriations Committee, which is an important committee, to bring projects back to your region.”
What the driving force behind her decision is tough to say. She won a surprisingly narrow re-election in 2020 over Republican challenger Esther Joy King. King announced she was already planning on running again, this time without Bustos in her way.
“Cheri has always claimed she knew this district well – so she clearly saw what we’re seeing every day: IL-17 was going to make a change in 2022 and Cheri was destined to lose,” King said in a statement. “The people of the IL-17th accomplished this! I’m proud to be part of a movement to bring better representation to the best people I know.”
State lawmakers are in the process of drawing new congressional district boundaries, but the Democrats in control of that process would likely have drawn Bustos a district as favorably as possible. Jones said he didn’t know the exact reason why she will be walking away but said the increase in vitriol and partisan polarization surely played a factor.
“It takes a toll on your family when you’re getting attacked on TV and by mail,” he said. “You go back to January 6th. While she was sitting in Congress, those members of Congress, their lives were at stake. That’s definitely got to play a role in it. It’s been extremely polarizing these days. When you hear, ‘hang Mike Pence’ from their own supporters, there’s a real concern about where one side of the aisle is going and the other one is trying to go.”
The trend of urban areas becoming more densely Democratic and rural areas more reliably Republican have made districts like the Illinois 17th some of the few truly competitive seats in Congress. Bustos won re-election by more than 20 percentage points in both 2016 and 2018 only to squeak out a 4-point win in 2020. Jones said he thinks the first 100 days of the Biden administration will help whomever the next Democratic nominee win back voters.
“They’ve been able to roll out a vaccination (program) where if anyone wants one they can get it, they’ve passed the COVID-19 relief bill which will be extremely beneficial to a lot of these areas where they might be more red than blue and you also have this infrastructure package that they’re trying to get passed,” Jones said. “This infrastructure package is going to be so big and I think it’s going to help out so many people. It’s going to get people back to work. We’re going to start seeing bridges start to be rebuilt and so much more that I think that’s going to allow for Democrats to campaign in those rural areas, to go back and to say, ‘look, the last four years you’ve had government that wasn’t working for you, now this is what happens when government is actually working.’”
In a statement, new Illinois Democratic Party Chair Robin Kelly said "there's no better champion for Illinoisans than Congresswoman Cheri Bustos”. Now she’ll have one of her first major tests as the lead of the state party figuring out who will be best positioned to keep the seat blue as Republicans target this district in their efforts to win back control of the House of Representatives.