The congressman from the 19th District is John Shimkus, a Republican first elected in 1996. Shimkus grew up in Collinsville, in Madison County. His father was an installer for Illinois Bell, and his mother a township trustee. He is of Lithuanian descent, as is his predecessor in the seat, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. Shimkus graduated from West Point, trained in the Army as a Ranger and paratrooper, went to college in California, then came back to Collinsville to teach high school. Almost immediately, he began running for local office. In 1988, he ran for the Madison County Board and lost. The very next year, however, he was elected a Collinsville Township trustee. In 1990, at age 32, he beat a 12-year incumbent to become Madison County treasurer. He challenged then-U.S. Rep. Durbin in 1992 and lost 57%-43%, a closer margin for Durbin than in his previous campaigns. Read More

The congressman from the 19th District is John Shimkus, a Republican first elected in 1996. Shimkus grew up in Collinsville, in Madison County. His father was an installer for Illinois Bell, and his mother a township trustee. He is of Lithuanian descent, as is his predecessor in the seat, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. Shimkus graduated from West Point, trained in the Army as a Ranger and paratrooper, went to college in California, then came back to Collinsville to teach high school. Almost immediately, he began running for local office. In 1988, he ran for the Madison County Board and lost. The very next year, however, he was elected a Collinsville Township trustee. In 1990, at age 32, he beat a 12-year incumbent to become Madison County treasurer. He challenged then-U.S. Rep. Durbin in 1992 and lost 57%-43%, a closer margin for Durbin than in his previous campaigns.

In 1996, when Durbin ran for the Senate, Shimkus easily won the Republican primary, with 51% against seven other candidates. In the general election, he faced state Rep. Jay Hoffman. Both were anti-abortion rights, anti-gun control, and pro-balanced budget amendment. Hoffman raised more money and had the benefit of support and financial backing from the AFL-CIO, but Shimkus won, 50.3% to 49.7%.

In the House, Shimkus’ voting record is generally conservative, particularly on foreign policy. He told Esquire magazine in 2010 that he believes President Obama’s world view “is of government control, of government solving the inequities of society. And that means big government and higher taxes....It’s just not what makes this country great.” When Obama addressed Congress on health care in September 2009, Shimkus walked out before the speech’s end. “It was the same old malarkey,” he said later.

From his seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Shimkus has been an aggressive supporter of business and a fierce critic of regulations he considers overly burdensome. His ardor can sometimes give way to hyperbole that triggers criticism on the left. When Democrats issued a draft plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in April 2009, he called it the “largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I’ve ever witnessed.” Around the same time, he drew attention for arguing that carbon dioxide—the leading greenhouse gas—is valuable “plant food” that did not need to be reduced. The floods that scientists warn could result from a rapidly changing climate won’t happen, Shimkus said, because God promised the Earth would not be destroyed by a flood. He has been especially vocal in supporting nuclear power, extending tax credits for ethanol, and giving incentives to coal-to-liquid refineries to help coal-producing areas. In 2010, after Republicans won control of the House, he vied to become the full committee chairman, but lost out to Michigan’s Fred Upton. Shimkus was named chairman of a new subcommittee on environment and economy that enables him to closely monitor the Obama administration’s regulatory activities.

As a former high school teacher, Shimkus took what seemed to be a routine assignment as chairman of the House page board and imposed stricter review procedures for applicants. But five weeks before the 2006 election, revelations that Republican Rep. Mark Foley had sent inappropriate and sexually explicit e-mails to former male pages was a political bombshell for the party, including for Shimkus and then GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois. Both men had known of questionable contacts Foley had with pages and failed to launch an investigation. The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct later found that Shimkus should have shared the information with other House members on the page board and should have demanded copies of all of Foley’s e-mails. But the committee called for no sanctions against him. Shimkus said he wished that he had done more to investigate the allegations about Foley, and he stepped down from the board.

In 2001, when the state’s redistricting plan eliminated the seat held by Rep. David Phelps, a conservative Democrat, Phelps decided to run against Shimkus in the new 19th District. After a spirited contest, in which organized labor spent more than $1.5 million trying to dislodge Shimkus, he won 55%-45%. Since then, he has been re-elected easily. When he first ran for the seat, Shimkus said he would limit himself to six terms. But Shimkus reconsidered and in September 2005 called his earlier pledge “a mistake.” He said, “Unless everyone plays by the same rules, term limits don’t make sense.”