Illinois's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Illinois. It stretches south from Chicago's Kenwood community area through portions of the city's South Side and southern suburbs, extending into several more rural counties outside of Chicagoland. Nearly two-thirds of its residents live in densely populated Cook County.
The 2nd district is nearly 50% Black and has voted reliably Democratic for decades. All four of its representatives since 1980 have been Black. The seat is currently represented by Democrat Robin Kelly, who announced in 2025 that she would pursue a Senate campaign in lieu of reelection.
In recent years, this district has been the site of multiple congressional scandals. Rep. Gus Savage lost his primary in 1992 after making antisemitic statements, and his two successors — Mel Reynolds and Jesse Jackson Jr. — resigned from office amid legal battles pertaining to sexual assault and campaign finance violations, respectively.
Composition For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties, townships, and municipalities:https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd119/cd_based/ST17/CD119_IL02.pdf
Champaign County (12)
Brown Township, Dewey, East Bend Township, Fisher (part, also 15th), Foosland, Harwood Township, Gifford (part, also 15th), Kerr Township, Ludlow, Ludlow Township, Rantoul, Rantoul Township (part, also 15th)
Cook County (36)
Bloom Township, Blue Island (part, also 1st), Bremen Township (part, also 1st and 6th), Burnham, Calumet City, Calumet Park (part, also 1st), Calumet Township (part, also 1st), Chicago (part, also 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th; shared with DuPage County), Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills (part, also 1st), Dixmoor (part, also 1st), Dolton, East Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Ford Heights, Frankfort (part, also 1st; shared with Will County), Glenwood, Harvey (part, also 1st), Hazel Crest, Homewood, Lansing, Lynwood, Markham (part, also 1st), Matteson (part, also 1st), Olympia Fields, Park Forest (part; shared with Will County), Phoenix, Richton Park, Rich Township (part, also 1st), Riverdale, Sauk Village, South Chicago Heights, South Holland, Steger (part; shared with Will County), Thornton, Thornton Township (part, also 1st)
Ford County (21)
Brenton Township, Button Township, Cabery (part, also Kankakee County), Dix Township, Drummer Township (part, also 16th), Elliott, Gibson City (part, also 16th), Kempton, Lyman Township, Melvin, Mona Township, Patton Township, Paxton, Peach Orchard Township, Pella Township, Piper City, Roberts, Rogers Township, Sibley, Sullivant Township, Wall Township
Iroquois County (47)
All 47 townships and municipalities
Kankakee County (34)
Aroma Park, Aroma Township, Bonfield, Bourbonnais (part, also 1st), Bourbonnais Township (part, also 1st), Bradley (part, also 1st), Buckingham, Cabery (part; shared with Ford County), Chebanse (part; shared with Iroquois County), Essex, Essex Township, Ganeer Township, Herscher, Hopkins Park, Irwin, Kankakee, Kankakee Township, Limestone, Limestone Township, Manteno Township (part, also 1st), Momence, Momence Township, Norton Township, Otto Township, Pembroke Township, Pilot Township, Reddick, Sammons Point, Salina Township, St. Anne, St. Anne Township, Sumner Township, Sun River Terrace, Union Hill, Yellowhead Township Livingston County (30) Avoca Township, Belle Prairie Township, Broughton Township, Campus, Charlotte Township, Chatsworth, Chatsworth Township, Cullom, Dwight (part, also 16th; shared with Grundy County), Dwight Township, Emmington, Fairbury, Fayette Township, Forrest, Forrest Township, Germanville Township, Indian Grove Township, Nevada Township, Odell, Odell Township, Owego Township, Pleasant Ridge Township, Pontiac (part, also 16th), Pontiac Township (part, also 16th), Round Grove Township, Saunemin, Saunemin Township, Strawn, Sullivan Township, Union Township Vermillion County (27) Alvin, Belgium, Bismarck, Blount Township, Butler Township, Catlin, Catlin Township (part, also 15th), Danville, Danville Township, Fithian, Georgetown Township (part, also 15th), Grant Township, Henning, Hoopeston, Middlefork Township, Muncie, Newell Township, Pilot Township, Potomac, Rankin, Ross Township, Rossville, South Ross Township, Tilton, Oakwood, Oakwood Township, Westville Will County (12) Beecher, Crete, Crete Township, Frankfort (part, also 1st; shared with Cook County), Monee, Monee Township, Park Forest (part, shared with Cook County), Peotone, Peotone Township (part, also 1st), University Park, Washington Township, Will Township
The 2nd district includes the following Chicago neighborhoods:
Hegewisch Hyde Park (part) Jackson Park Kenwood (part) Pullman (part) Riverdale Roseland (part) South Deering (part) South Shore (part) Woodlawn (part)
Demographics The southeast side of Chicago was for many decades the home of numerous Eastern European and Irish immigrants who sought the industrial work of the steel mills and railroad companies which were then dominant in the area. However, as local industry declined in the 1950s and 1960s, these groups were increasingly displaced by African Americans who were gradually migrating southward from other parts of the city. Whereas barely 20% of district residents were black in the 1960s, this figure increased to 70% by the 1980s, and by the 1990s the racial demographics of the 1st and 2nd congressional districts were very similar. At the same time, decreasing population in the district required expanding its borders into the suburbs, and it is now nearly three times the size it was in the 1980s, when it covered only .
Following redistricting for the 2000s (decade), 59% of the 2nd congressional district's population resides in the suburbs, with a total of 98.4% living in Cook County. The district's white population (almost 30% of its residents) now primarily resides in the southern suburbs and a few far southeastern Chicago neighborhoods such as East Side and Hegewisch.See U.S. Census Bureau map showing distribution of district's white population.
Several suburbs closer to Chicago near Interstate 57 have black populations exceeding 75%: Calumet Park, Country Club Hills, Dolton, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Markham, Matteson, Phoenix, Richton Park, Riverdale, and University Park. In contrast, there are five suburbs further southeast with white populations exceeding 75% – Homewood, Lansing, South Chicago Heights, Steger and Thornton – although they surround Ford Heights, with a population of only about 2800 the district's most racially one-sided population (96% black). Chicago Heights features the most even racial mix, with a population that is 45% white and 38% black. The district's largest white ethnic groups are German (5.8%), Irish (4.4%), Polish (4.4%) and Italian (3.1%),Congressional Districts in the 2000s: A Portrait of America, p. 299. similar to other districts in southern Cook County.
Hispanics represent 10% of the district's population, with sizable communities in East Side and Chicago Heights. Chicago's South Shore neighborhood was the longtime home to a Jewish community which has since migrated to suburbs such as Homewood and Flossmoor . South Shore is now primarily a middle-class black community and is also home to a notable minority of Black Muslims including the national headquarters of the Nation of Islam, Mosque Maryam. The district includes some sharp economic disparities. Olympia Fields, Country Club Hills and Matteson are affluent suburbs with black majority populations, but Ford Heights (only four miles east of Olympia Fields) is one of the most impoverished places in the United States, with a median household income of just $17,500 in 2000 – less than 42% of the national average. It is home to more single mothers per capita than anyplace else in the country.
Recent election results from statewide races Year Office Results2008 PresidentObama 74% - 25%2012 PresidentObama 74% - 26%2016 PresidentClinton 69% - 27% SenateDuckworth 69% - 26% Comptroller (Spec.)Mendoza 65% - 30%2018 GovernorPritzker 69% - 26% Attorney GeneralRaoul 69% - 29% Secretary of StateWhite 79% - 19% ComptrollerMendoza 73% - 25% TreasurerFrerichs 73% - 24%2020 PresidentBiden 69% - 29% SenateDurbin 63% - 26%2022 SenateDuckworth 68% - 30% GovernorPritzker 66% - 32% Attorney GeneralRaoul 66% - 32% Secretary of StateGiannoulias 66% - 32% ComptrollerMendoza 69% - 30% TreasurerFrerichs 67% - 31%2024 PresidentHarris 66% - 33%
Presidential voting This table indicates how the 2nd District has voted in U.S. presidential elections; election results reflect voting in the district as it was configured at the time of the election, not as it is configured today. The candidate who received the most votes in the district is listed first; the candidate who won the election nationally is in CAPS, and the candidate who won the state of Illinois is indicated with a †.
ElectionDistrict winnerRunner-upOther candidates1852Vote totals from 1852 to 1868 are based on cumulative county totals as listed in Illinois: Historical and Statistical (1892), John Moses, Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., pp. 1208-1209.PIERCE† (D), 8,021 (49%)Scott (W), 5,882 (36%)Hale (Free Soil), 2,500 (15%)1856Frémont (R), 21,556 (67%)BUCHANAN† (D), 9,843 (30%)Fillmore (American), 966 (3%)1860LINCOLN† (R), 30,856 (64%)Douglas (D), 16,993 (35%)Bell (Constitutional Union), 192 (0.4%); Breckinridge (D), 128 (0.3%)1864LINCOLN† (R), 18,305 (78%)McClellan (D), 5,231 (22%)1868GRANT† (R), 20,946 (77%)Seymour (D), 6,270 (23%)1952Stevenson (D), 94,905 (51%)EISENHOWER† (R), 91,522 (49%)1956Stevenson (D), 81,570 (50%)EISENHOWER† (R), 81,296 (50%)1968Humphrey (D), 103,924 (59%)NIXON† (R), 52,311 (30%)Wallace (AIP), 18,896 (11%)1972McGovern (D), 116,534 (66%)NIXON† (R), 60,220 (34%)1976CARTER (D), 137,384 (83%)Ford† (R), 28,498 (17%)1980Carter (D), 145,205 (84%)REAGAN† (R), 20,946 (12%)Anderson (Indep.), 3,612 (2%)1984Mondale (D), 168,174 (84%)REAGAN† (R), 32,693 (16%)1988Dukakis (D), 150,387 (84%)BUSH† (R), 25,896 (15%)1992CLINTON† (D), 194,639 (80%)Bush (R), 31,634 (13%)Perot (Indep.), 16,950 (7%)1996CLINTON† (D), 170,819 (85%)Dole (R), 22,204 (11%)Perot (Reform), 6,395 (3%)2000Gore† (D), 188,289 (89%)BUSH (R), 21,838 (10%)Nader (Green), 1,626 (1%)2004Barone, et al. (2005), p. 564.Kerry† (D), 230,613 (84%)BUSH (R), 43,822 (16%)2008Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008; IllinoisOBAMA† (D), 260,869 (90%)McCain (R), 28,676 (10%)2012Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2012; IllinoisOBAMA† (D), (81%)Romney (R), (19%)
History 2011 redistricting The district covers parts of Cook and Will counties and all of Kankakee, as of the 2011 redistricting which followed the 2010 census. All or parts of Bradley, Bourbonnais, Calumet City, Chicago, Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Dolton, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Homewood, Kankakee, Lansing, Markham, Matteson, Park Forest, Richton Park, Riverdale, Sauk Village, Steger and Thornton are included.Illinois Congressional District 2 , Illinois Board of Elections The representatives for these districts were elected in the 2012 primary and general elections, and the boundaries became effective on January 3, 2013.
Prominent representatives