Hultgren victorious in bid for second term in House
By Dave Gathman dgathman@stmedianetwork.com November 6, 2012 10:06PM
Randy Hultgren
Updated: December 8, 2012 6:07AM
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren Tuesday handily won his bid for a second term in the House.
Republican Hultgren took 60 percent of the vote and defeated Democratic challenger Dennis Anderson by about 60,000 votes in the race for the new 14th Congressional District.
The redesigned 14th District looks little like it did when J. Dennis Hastert called it home during his years representing the Fox Valley and serving as speaker of the U.S. House.
The new district now includes all or part of eight counties — Kane, Kendall, DeKalb, DuPage, Will, McHenry, Boone and Lake. It stretches from Illinois’ northern border, south to Kendall County and Naperville.
What the 14th no longer does include is the more Democrat-oriented larger cities of Aurora and Elgin, which were turned over to other districts to threaten the re-election prospects of people like Walsh and Biggert.
Hultgren, of Winfield Township, has been involved in local politics since he was elected to the DuPage County Board in 1994. He served more than a decade in the Illinois General Assembly before beating Democrat Bill Foster in 2010.
The 46-year-old would return to Congress as part of an outspoken congressional contingent that has stymied the president’s agenda. He has vowed to fight against the Affordable Health Care Act, though he supports allowing young people to stay on their parents’ insurance and favors protection for pre-existing conditions. Hultgren says government spending must be cut, but says the military budget is off limits. He also supports increased spending on science.
When asked before the election about how he has changed since 2010, Hultgren said he was sobered by the problems facing the country.
“I think I’m also a little wiser in knowing more how politics pervades everything,” he said. “That frustrates me and I want to see what I can do to start changing that.”
Anderson, of Gurnee, had never run for any political office. The retired medical researcher walked a lot of miles, talking to voters in “retail campaigning.”
Staff writer Matt Hanley contributed to this report.
