Illinois Democrats late Wednesday unveiled the third version of a proposed congressional district map designed to shore up the party’s advantage in Washington for the next decade.

       Left intact from the revised map released over the weekend are two potential one-on-one matchups of Republican incumbents and a potential suburban Democratic primary contest between Reps. Sean Casten and Marie Newman. The map also maintains an effort to create a second Latino district.

       The latest map appears to make an effort at bolstering support for two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville by shifting her district south to pick up parts of more Democratic Will County. Underwood narrowly survived a 2020 reelection in a district that took in a sizable chunk of Republican territory in the north suburbs.

       Representative Lauren Underwood (IL-14) and Representative Sean Casten (IL-06) speak before a press conference outside of the Ken Christy Post Office on Aug. 18, 2020 in Aurora. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

       Democrats hold a 13-5 advantage over Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation, but Illinois is losing one seat due to its first-ever decline in population. The latest map is aimed at creating a 14-3 Democratic advantage, and is part of an effort by the party nationally to retain its narrow control of the U.S. House in next year’s midterm elections.

       The latest map, like the second version, offers the opportunity for a second Latino district along with the 4th District held by U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia of Chicago. In the rendering released Wednesday, the district would stretch from the city to western DuPage County to pick up suburbs with growing Latino population including Bensenville, Addison and West Chicago.

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       The map maintains the potential for a Democratic suburban primary pitting Casten, of Downers Grove, against Newman, a freshman representative from Chicago, in a revised 6th District that runs from Lombard and Villa Park on the north to include many southwest suburbs that are part of Newman’s current 3rd District.

       Despite testimony in opposition to splitting up Southwest Side and southwest suburban communities that are now part of Newman’s district, several communities in Chicago in the latest map would still be shifted into districts held by Democrats Garcia and Danny Davis of Chicago, and Robin Kelly of Matteson.

       As was the case with the second revision, the new map puts six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon into a district with four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood. The district would stretch from the Wisconsin border south to include areas surrounding the Democratic-leaning cities of Rockford, Peoria and Bloomington.

       Rep. Mary Miller, a controversial freshman Republican from Oakland in east central Illinois who has embraced the far right elements of the Republican Party, would still be in a district that extends into a far southern Illinois area represented by four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro.

       Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville, who has been considering a bid for the Republican nomination for governor if Democrats put him in a district that would make reelection difficult, remains in a solidly Republican central Illinois district that stretches from the Mississippi River to the Indiana border.

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       “I am confident these proposed congressional boundaries will maintain our status as a leader in the nation for minority representation,” said state Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez of Cicero, the Democratic chair of the Illinois House Redistricting Committee.

       Democrats control the legislature and the governor’s office, meaning no Republican votes are needed to pass a map. A vote is expected on Thursday, the final scheduled day of the legislature’s two-week fall session.

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