My gerrymander is effective, yet not too greedy. I kept all three African-American districts over 50% and created a new Hispanic district that is majority overall, plurality by VAP.
IL 1: Bobby Rush (Blue)
At 52% Black and 80% Obama, the one person to ever defeat President Obama in an election will be nice and secure. Taking on Republican suburbs to maintain population doesn't do much.
IL-2: Jesse Jackson Jr. (Green)
52% Black and 79% Obama. Rev. Jackson's son had to take on some Republican territory, but his constituency is only marginally different.
IL-3: Dan Lipinski (Purple)
70% Obama. The progressive disliked Mr. Lipinski gets a stronger district by partisan numbers, but it's 61% Hispanic overall and 55% by VAP, more than enough for Lipinski to lose a primary to someone like State Senator Antonio Munoz or another Hispanic office holder within the constituency.
IL-4: Luis Gutierrez (Cadet Blue)
76% Obama, 50% Hispanic overall, but 44% by VAP, which is exactly tied with the white VAP. Gutierrez should be fine in the primary, but there is a potential for a challenge.
IL-5: Mike Quigley (Olive Drab)
67% Obama. This is where I unpacked Chicago a bit. Quigley picks up some suburbs, but is a-okay.
IL-6: Joe Walsh, Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren (Teal)
50% Obama. This is the first GOP vote sink, it takes in Wheaton and reaches out in heavily GOP exburbs in Kane and McHenry Counties. Roskam would be favored since he has more seniority over the other two and current represents a big portion of this seat.
IL-7: Danny Davis (Gray)
53% Black, 88% Obama. I thought it would be hard to keep this one majority black, but I did it with some maneuvering.
IL-8: Bobby Schilling, Don Manzullo (Turquoise)
52% McCain. Manzullo would be favored in the primary, because of seniority.
IL-9: Jan Schakowsky (Royal Blue)
65% Obama. I unpacked this seat some to distribute a few Republican precincts into it in order to balance out IL-10.
IL-10: Bob Dold! (Orchid)
65% Obama. Balancing out IL-9 and IL-10 into 65% Obama districts seemed like the wisest thing to do. State Senator Susan Garrett may be a good choice for a candidate here. Anyone but Dan Seals should defeat Dold.
IL-11: OPEN (Light Green)
58% Obama. Melissa Bean could run here and win, it's about 3 points better than the district she lost. If not her, then I'm sure Democrats could find someone else to run here.
IL-12: Jerry Costello (Cornflower Blue)
56% Obama. Costello gets a little bit of improvement.
IL-13: Judy Biggert (Salmon)
53% Obama. Another vote sink, this is similar to Biggert's current district, but takes in more of Cook.
IL-14: OPEN (Olive)
62% Obama. Hultgren might live here, but even if he does, he'd still try his luck at IL-6. State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia could win this Aurora-Joliet constituency.
IL-15: Timothy Johnson, Aaron Schock (Orange)
58% Obama. The pockets of Democratic strength in central Illinois are pulled together for a Dem leaning seat. I have no idea who would prevail in the primary, but I do know that State Senator Mike Frerichs of Champaign would be favored over either one.
IL-16: John Shimkus (Lime)
54% McCain. Not much to say other than vote sink.
IL-17: OPEN (Purple)
57% Obama. A reformat make this district much better. Phil Hare wants to run again, but I don't know if that's a good idea.
IL-18: OPEN (Yellow)
54% McCain. Nice solid vote sink. Timothy Johnson could run here.