Illinois GOP Primary: Expect Romney to Do Well In Urban Areas, Santorum Strong in Rural Parts

Illinois doesn’t often play a role in Republican presidential primaries, but both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have visited Chicago and locations in southern Illinois where there is a higher density of conservative and evangelical voters. Romney is expected to do well in urban and suburban areas, holding the trend nationally, but Santorum is expected to do better with southern and rural voters. Though Romney is expected to carry Illinois on the strength of urban votes, don't look for this to be repeated in President Obama's home state in the general election.

Illinois remains solidly under Democratic control, with redistricting maps redrawn heavily in Democrats’’ favor. Primary fights among Democrats to watch will be the 8th District between military veteran Tammy Duckworth and businessman Raja Krishnamoorthi. There's a close 4-way fight among Democrats for the 10th District between Vivek Bavda, Brad Schneider, Ilya Sheyman, and military veteran John Tree. Two downstate races will be interesting. The 13th looks tough between Democrats Dr. David Gill and veteran Matt Goetten. The 12th District is an open seat with the incumbent retiring. Brad Harriman goes up against Ken Wiezer in the Dem race, as the GOP 3-way features Jason Plummer, Rodger Cook, and Theresa Kormos.

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