Rep. Ray LaHood (R) Elected 1994, 5th term
Born:	Dec. 6, 1945, Peoria
Home:	Peoria
Education:	Canton Jr. Col., 1963-65, Bradley U., B.S. 1971
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Kathy)
Elected  Office:	IL House of Reps., 1982.
Professional Career:	Jr. High Schl. Teacher, 1971-77; Dir., Rock Island Youth Svcs., 1972-74; Chief Planner, Bi-state Planning Comm., 1974-76; Dist. A.A., U.S. Rep. Tom Railsback, 1977-82; Dist. A.A., U.S. Rep. Bob Michel, 1983-90, Chief of Staff, 1990-94.
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Old vaudeville bookers, presented with a new act, used to ask, "Will it play in Peoria?" The implication was that if an act went over in this small city on the bluffs above the Illinois River, 154 miles from Chicago and 171 miles from St. Louis, it would go over just about anywhere. In the first half of this century, Peoria did seem pretty typical of America. If its citizens were mostly of British or German descent, with a small percentage of blacks, that was the image of ordinary America that prevailed up through the 1960s, despite the great immigrations of 1880-1924 and the northward urban migrations of southern rural blacks of 1940-1965. But Peoria's economy, arguably typical at mid-century, is less so today. This is still a heavy manufacturing town, dominated by big plants that produce farm machinery and earth-moving equipment. Its biggest employer is Caterpillar, the world's leading producer of earth-moving and construction equipment, and one of America's major exporters. There are more than just memories here of the sharp divide between blue collar and white collar, union and management, Democrat and Republican--the basis of the class warfare politics that was the norm in the heavy industrial metropolises of the Great Lakes region for three or four decades starting with the sit-down strikes of the late 1930s. But the blue-collar workers now are not as numerous and the unions not as strong. The Peoria area went through terrible times in the 1980s, as big farm machinery plants laid off workers and even closed down. Then Caterpillar, struck by the United Auto Workers in 1992, hired replacement workers and continued to operate--not without some friction and inefficiency, but profitably--something unheard of a dozen or more years before. Not until March 1998 did union members approve a settlement, pretty much on the company's terms. There was no population growth here in the 1990s, and Peoria slipped from 3d to 5th among the largest cities in Illinois.

The 18th Congressional District, variously configured, has been the Peoria district since the 1940s. It has been represented by two national Republican leaders: from 1933-49 by Everett McKinley Dirksen, who was elected senator in 1950 and was Senate Republican leader from 1959-69, and Robert Michel, congressman from 1957-95 and Republican House leader from 1981-95. The 18th's boundaries have changed considerably over that time; currently they extend south along the Illinois River and east to include half of Springfield (including the state Capitol) and west within a few miles of Iowa, away from historically Republican Peoria toward the historically marginal counties of central Illinois. It is the home of Eureka College, which dedicated the Ronald Reagan Peace Garden in honor of its 1933 graduate and the end of the Cold War that he helped to achieve.

The congressman from the 18th District is Ray LaHood, a Republican elected in 1994. LaHood grew up in Peoria, the grandson of an immigrant from Lebanon and son of a restaurant manager. He worked his way through school, spent six years teaching in Catholic schools, then moved to Rock Island, where he worked with delinquent teens and became a staffer for Congressman Tom Railsback. He served in the Illinois House in 1982, then worked for Congressman Michel in Peoria and, from 1990-94, was his chief of staff in Washington. When Newt Gingrich pointedly declined to rule out running against Michel for Republican leader after the 1994 election, Michel decided to retire. LaHood ran to replace his boss, and in the Republican primary beat state Representative Judy Koehler, 50%-40%, carrying the Peoria area but running behind in the rest of the district. LaHood's Democratic opponent was Douglas Stephens, a labor lawyer and small businessmen, who held Michel to 52% in 1982 and 55% in 1988. Stephens favored school prayer, term limits and abortion restrictions, and put on an energetic campaign, but in this Republican year LaHood carried all but one county and won 60%-39%.

LaHood's voting record has been toward the middle of the House. An odd man out under Speaker Gingrich, LaHood became one of its most visible members in Gingrich's final days as speaker. He was one of only three Republicans who did not sign the Contract with America; he had reservations about voting for tax cuts until the budget was balanced. And he disliked the Republicans' confrontational strategy in the 1995-96 budget crisis. During those years, decrying the angry tone of House debate, LaHood and Democrat David Skaggs started the Bipartisan Retreat at Hershey, Pennsylvania, "to foster a Congress that is more civil and to create better communication among members." He also gained a niche by frequently presiding over the House. With his experience in monitoring the floor for Michel, LaHood's evenhanded rulings, his surefooted mastery of parliamentary procedure and his determination to maintain decorum were widely appreciated. Most famously, he was called on often to preside over the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

When Speaker Dennis Hastert replaced Gingrich, LaHood suddenly was well placed with House leaders. With Hastert's support, he has won seats on the Appropriations, Budget and Intelligence committees. As a self-styled deficit hawk, he supports a freeze in federal spending. He seized on the disputed 2000 count in Florida as an opportunity to advance his longtime cause of abolishing the Electoral College and replacing it with a national popular vote count. But the moment passed without action. After September 11, he refused to join critics who complained that the government was targeting people of Middle Eastern descent and he voted for the use of force against Iraq. He was the only House member to speak out against the creation of the commission to investigate the causes of the September 11 attacks.

LaHood has worked for district interests. He says that he has supported Caterpillar 90% of the time and worked to lift duties off four chemicals used to produce herbicides at DuPont's request. He has been willing to tangle with colleagues on behalf of local interests. And when the 11th District's Jerry Weller got Joliet's new veterans' cemetery named after Abraham Lincoln, LaHood got a sentence in an appropriations bill revoking that, for fear of confusion with Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery, where Lincoln is buried.

LaHood has been re-elected by wide margins throughout his district, and was unopposed in 2002. When Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald in October 2000 attacked Speaker Dennis Hastert for not imposing federal bidding requirements on the Abraham Lincoln Library project and called his position "morally and ethically wrong," LaHood took umbrage. In November 2002, LaHood told the Chicago Sun-Times, "I'm thinking about trying to make sure that Peter has an opponent" in the Republican primary. "I think we can do better than him." He said that Fitzgerald did nothing to help Republican candidates south of I-80 in 2002 and didn't show up at a rally in Springfield two days before the election. "I've been disenchanted with Fitzgerald for a long time, but when he trashed Denny Hastert that was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me." But when Fitzgerald announced in April 2003 that he would not seek another term, LaHood said he would not run for the open Senate seat. He did consider running for Majority Whip after Dick Armey retired in 2002, but he decided not to when it became clear that Roy Blunt had locked up the votes.

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DC Office
1424 LHOB 20515, 202-225-6201; Fax: 202-225-9249; Web site: www.house.gov/lahood

State Offices
Jacksonville, 217-245-1431; Peoria, 309-671-7027; Springfield, 217-793-0808.

Committees

• Appropriations (28th of 36 R): Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA & Related Agencies; The Legislative Branch (Vice Chmn.); VA, HUD & Independent Agencies.
• Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (5th of 11 R): Intelligence Policy & National Security (Vice Chmn.); Terrorism & Homeland Security (Chmn.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	13	0	13	8	88	53	89	92	71	92
2001	15	--	20	50	--	--	57	86	72	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	48%	--	52%		34%	--	66%
Social	46%	--	55%		32%	--	63%
Foreign	43%	--	53%		35%	--	60%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development Y 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Ray LaHood (R)	unopposed
2002 primary	Ray LaHood (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Ray LaHood (R)	173,706	67%	$974,251
	Joyce Harant (D)	85,317	33%	$86,262
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (100%); 1996 (59%); 1994 (60%)

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	159,475	54%
	Gore (D)	128,411	43%
	Other	7,464	3%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Eighteenth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 6
• District Size: 8,302 square miles
• Population in 2000: 653,647; 68.0% urban; 32.0% rural
• Median Household Income: $41,934; 8.9% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 24.7% blue collar; 59.1% white collar; 16.2% gray collar; 14.2% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 90.0% White, 6.4% Black, 0.9% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.9% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.5% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 21.2% German, 9.7% Irish, 8.8% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.