Illinois’ 17th Congressional seat gets competitive in matchup between incumbent Eric Sorensen and Joe McGraw

A vast and sprawling congressional district covering much of northwestern and central Illinois is among the country’s most competitive races this year.

As Republicans try to retain their party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats hope to chip away at it — but they’ll need to keep control of Illinois’ 17th district to do so.

In this district, first term incumbent Democrat Eric Sorsensen faces Republican Joe McGraw, a retired Illinois Circuit Court Judge.

Sorensen is Illinois’ first openly gay U.S. representative. He spent most of his career as a TV meteorologist in Rockford and the Quad Cities.

“I don't have a background in politics, which means I can be a different kind of person in Washington,” he said. Sorensen chatted with WBEZ after a campaign event in Green Valley, just south of Pekin, where he had received the endorsement of ACTIVATOR — the Illinois Farm Bureau’s political arm.

“He was one of only four Democrats to vote for the farm bill out of the House Ag committee, and for that we’re grateful,” said Mike Deppert, president of the Tazewell County Farm Bureau. “We need more bipartisan leadership and Congressman Sorensen is… exhibiting that.”

Sorensen says a Democrat in this district needs to be bipartisan.

The district winds from Rockford to the Quad Cities, south through Galesburg, Macomb and then back east to Peoria and Bloomington/Normal. Democrats controlled the process to draw new district boundaries after the previous census since they’re in the majority in the Illinois statehouse. The new 17th Congressional District now encompasses many urban areas and college towns — including some areas that tend to vote more liberal.

But the district also takes in a lot of rural areas that traditionally vote Republican.

McGraw sees an opportunity to flip the seat.

“There are so many blue collar folks… there are union folks, African American people that are traditional Democratic voters. We’ve heard from them they’re ready for a change,” McGraw said after a standing room only rally in Rockford.

“They don’t feel secure, they don’t feel safe, they don’t feel prosperous and they don’t feel like the government is for them. They feel like an afterthought,” he said.

McGraw is a former Illinois circuit court judge who retired after 20 years on the bench to run for Congress. He didn’t say much about Donald Trump directly at the Rockford rally, but he did cite some of the Trump campaign’s national talking points — that inflation is making it more expensive for farmers, and allegations that border policies are leading to rampant crime and drug overdose deaths in the district.

Advertising from the National Republican Congressional Committee paints Sorensen as radical, or too far left for rural Illinois. While Sorensen says he’s actually one of the more bipartisan members of his party, there’s evidence that the district is trending more conservative.

Cook Political Report, a non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections, expects the district to vote slightly more in favor of Democrats than it did during the last two presidential elections.

But Erin Covey, who covers House races for Cook Political Report, says the district is largely white and working class — two demographics that Republicans made gains with during the Trump presidency.

Despite how competitive the race is by Illinois standards, she says there are other races nationwide garnering more attention.

“Illinois’ 17th district is less competitive than a couple dozen other races that we have rated in more competitive categories, but it is still a race that is on the edge of the battleground, and so it's receiving national resources from both parties,” she said.

As of Oct. 16, Sorensen had raised roughly $4.7 million to McGraw’s nearly $1.4 million. Sorenson has outspent McGraw more than 3 to 1, which makes this Illinois’ second most expensive congressional race.

For both Republicans and Democrats trying to bolster their standing in the U.S. House, it’s also Illinois’ most consequential race.

Alex Degman is an Illinois statehouse reporter for WBEZ based in Springfield.