The seat has been held more than 30 years by one of the most prominent Republican members of Congress, and most of the district lies in what some describe as the nation’s most Republican county. But Democrats are looking to take advantage of U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde’s retirement in what they describe as a district thrown up for grabs by demographic changes.
Wheaton attorney Peter O’Malley, 41, who became the second Democrat in the race for the 6th Congressional District seat on Wednesday, sounded a note of optimism as he spoke to about three dozen supporters at a Wheaton playground where he takes his children.
“This is more than just Henry Hyde leaving,” O’Malley said. “This is about a changing district. I think the district has changed to the point where it’s so important to have a new voice in there.”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg called the seat one of the organization’s “top targets” in the 2006 election. U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago heads the DCCC, and his 5th Congressional District meets Hyde’s eastern border.
“It’s becoming a tossup district much more so than it has been in the past,” Feinberg said. “The days of GOP dominance of this district are over.”
But DuPage GOP Chairman Kirk Dillard, a state senator from Hinsdale, said that optimism is unfounded, particularly because Hyde himself, like other incumbents, redrew the district to maximize his advantage at the polls.
“This is a Republican district,” Dillard said. “Congressman Hyde is far too smart to have drawn a tossup or a swing district for himself.”
Republicans recognize the opportunity, and the primary field may become crowded–former DuPage County Recorder J.P. “Rick” Carney is running and state Sen. Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton) is exploring a bid. State Sen. Carole Pankau (R-Roselle) and former state Rep. Tom Johnson (R-West Chicago) also are considering runs.
Still, Democrats expect a few more candidates to emerge for the chance to succeed Hyde.
Already there is Democrat Christine Cegelis, 52, of Rolling Meadows, who runs an informational technology consulting firm. She basically has continued her campaign from last fall when she garnered 44 percent of the vote against Hyde–the best any Democrat fared against him in three decades.
Cegelis said her advantage is that she has already been campaigning and building an organization to support her second bid. “I was willing to step up to the plate when I was running against a powerful incumbent because I really felt a need to serve,” she said.
DuPage Democratic Party Chairwoman Gayl Ferraro said she welcomed more candidates into the primary because it gave the party more “credibility and play” in the county.
But Dillard pointed out that it could spread out their limited resources and prove divisive. O’Malley’s announcement “clearly shows Democrats are not united on Cegelis, who ran last time, and that’s probably good for us,” he said.
Hyde’s district encompasses much of northeastern DuPage County, stretching as far west as Wheaton and Carol Stream, and stretching north into Cook County to include areas such as Elk Grove Village and Hoffman Estates.
Republicans also concede that the area has changed since Hyde took office, with younger families moving out to the suburbs–sometimes from Democratic Chicago–and an influx of immigrants from all over the world.
O’Malley said one advantage he has over Cegelis is he’s a lifelong resident of a district that was once so Republican that he was the only one in his Elmhurst grade school class who voted for George McGovern over Richard Nixon in a mock election.
Democratic success on a local level in DuPage has been minimal, at best.
But U.S. Sen. Barack Obama won the county against conservative Alan Keyes by more than a 2-to-1 ratio in last fall’s Senate race.
O’Malley, who works as an arbitrator with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, ran for County Board in 2002, winning 19 percent of the vote as the only Democrat in a four-person race for three slots. He fell 6 percentage points short in one of the more staunchly GOP districts in the county.
In announcing his bid for Congress, O’Malley described himself as a moderate and listed Social Security and health care as two issues he saw as key to the race.
“I run to give voice to the cares and concerns of the working and middle class of the 6th District–people like you and me–who are being given less of a say while being asked to shoulder more of the burden,” he said.
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jbiemer@tribune.com
