The last time a sitting Illinois Republican congressperson faced a real primary challenge from a non-incumbent was more than seven years ago, when then-state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, challenged U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville. Even so, nobody really thought McCarter had much of a chance, and, as expected, he ended up losing to Shimkus by more than 20 points.
We’ve seen reapportionment-related GOP primaries between congressional incumbents — the most recent being U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ 2022 crushing loss to fellow U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (no relation) — but serious challenges of sitting Republican U.S. representatives are otherwise fairly rare here.
