GOP Rep. Rodney Davis not running for Illinois governor; Congress, Mary Miller,

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., will announce Tuesday that he will not jump into the 2022 GOP Illinois governor primary and instead will seek reelection to the House.

State Democratic mapmakers created a GOP district custom fitted for Davis — and one with no other incumbent — as an incentive to keep him out of the 2022 governor’s race, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker seeks another term.

With Davis deciding to run again for the House, freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., from Oakland, is the only GOP incumbent from Illinois who has not announced plans for 2022.

She will face a primary with a more established GOP incumbent no matter the district she picks to run from. Candidates do not have to live in the district they run to represent.

At present, the Illinois delegation sends 13 Democrats and 5 Republicans to Congress. Illinois lost a seat due to reapportionment after the 2020 census.

The new map drawn by state Democrats includes three very safe GOP districts, down from five. The other 14 districts were designed to elect Democrats.

• U.S. Reps. Darin LaHood, of Peoria, and Adam Kinzinger, of Channahon, were thrown together in the new 16^th District, which sweeps in part of central and northern Illinois. LaHood got a break when Kinzinger said he would not seek another House term. Kinzinger is also mulling a governor or Senate run, and a decision is expected in January.
• U.S. Reps. Mike Bost of Murphysboro and Miller were put in the same new 12^th District, which takes in a chunk of southern Illinois.

• Davis was the only incumbent in the new 15^th, a district rooted in central Illinois touching, in parts, the Indiana and Iowa borders.

Miller has embraced Trump and Trumpism more than the other GOP Illinois incumbents. While she can run from any district, the LaHood turf is too far from her political base in southern Illinois, where her husband, Chris, is a member of the Illinois House and where the family farm is located.

In a show of political force, Davis, who has been climbing the rungs of GOP House leadership, is expected on Tuesday to announce endorsements from most of the Republican county chairmen in the new district and other state officials and members of Congress.