Illinois' 4th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Illinois
district number = 4

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image width = 300px
image caption = The 4th congressional district of Illinois since 2003
representative = Luis Gutierrez
party = Democratic
english area =
metric area =
population urban =
percent rural =
population = 653,647
population year = 2000
median income = 35,935
percent white = 46.5
percent black = 4.3
percent asian = 1.8
percent native american = 0.7
percent hispanic = 74.5
percent other race = 42.1
percent blue collar =
percent white collar =
percent gray collar =
cpvi = D + 31

The 4th Congressional District of Illinois includes part of Cook County, and has been represented by Democrat Luis Gutierrez since January 1993.

It is one of the most strangely drawn and gerrymandered congressional districts in the country.who It was created to contain two majority Hispanic parts of Chicago.

This district covers two strips running east-west across the city of Chicago, Illinois on the west side continuing into smaller portion of some suburban areas in Cook County, surrounding Illinois' 7th congressional district. The northern portion is largely Puerto Rican, while the southern portion is heavily Mexican. The two sections are on opposite sides of the city and are only connected by a piece of Interstate 294 to the west; the highway is in the district while the surrounding areas are not.It is the smallest congressional district in area outside of New York City and San Francisco. [cite web|url=http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cd109th/natl_code/ua_cd109_natl.txt |title= Congressional Districts by Land Area (National)|accessdate=2006-11-11 |format=ASCII text |author=United States Census Bureau]
George W. Bush received 21% of the vote in this district in 2004. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of D +31.

Geography

The 4th District includes the Chicago community of Brighton Park, in addition to almost all of Hermosa, Lower West Side and Gage Park; parts of Albany Park, Irving Park, Avondale, Logan Square, West Town, Humboldt Park, Belmont Cragin, Austin, McKinley Park, South Lawndale, New City, West Elsdon and Archer Heights; portions of riverfront Bridgeport; the portion of North Center southwest of Clybourn Avenue; and the northwestern tip of Lincoln Park.

History

The Illinois 4th Congressional District was originally formed in 1842. It included 17 counties, which were Cook, Lake, McHenry, Boone, De Kalb, Kane, Du Page, Will, Kendall, Grundy, La Salle, Bureau, Livingston, Iroquois, McLean, Vermilion and Champaign Counties. Beyond this Ford and Kankakee Counties were part of Vermillion and Iroquois Counties respectively at this point and thus in the district's boundaries. [Parson, Stanley B., William W. Beach and Michael J. Durbin. "United States Congressional Districts and Data, 1843-1883" (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1986) p. 9]

References

ee also

* List of United States Congressional districts
* United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2008
* Gerrymandering

External links

* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/census/il/district-4/ "Washington Post" page on the 4th District of Illinois]
* [http://fastfacts.census.gov/servlet/CWSFacts?_event=ChangeGeoContext&geo_id=50000US1704&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US17%7C50000US1701&_street=&_county=&_cd=50000US1704&_cityTown=&_state=04000US17&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=500&_content=&_keyword=&_industry= U.S. Census Bureau - 4th District Fact Sheet]
*PDFlink| [http://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd108_named/ind_pdf/IL_CD04n.pdf U.S. Census Bureau - 4th District map] |1.12 MiB