DuPage GOP lawmakers decide where they’ll run for re-election

SPRINGFIELD — The state’s biggest GOP logjam created by the new drawn-by-Democrats political map appears to have broken up, as three DuPage County lawmakers who all live in the same new House district have chosen where they’ll run for 2012.

Under the new map, state Reps. Dennis Reboletti of Elmhurst, Chris Nybo of Elmhurst and Patti Bellock of Hinsdale all live in the same legislative district.

That meant they’d have to all run for re-election in a likely divisive three-way primary race or find other options to follow their political careers.

Bellock said Thursday they consulted each other when deciding.

“We wanted to respect one another,” she said. “We all worked together.”

Bellock will run for re-election to the House from the district they all live in, the new 47th District.

Reboletti announced this week that he plans to run for re-election in the next-door new 45th District.

Because of the new map, two GOP incumbents already live in the 45th District that Reboletti is targeting: Reps. Randy Ramey of Carol Stream and Franco Coladipietro of Bloomingdale.

But Coladipietro has announced he won’t be running for the House, and Ramey has said he’s leaning toward a bid for Illinois Senate, perhaps clearing the way for Reboletti to run there without a Republican opponent.

If Reboletti wins and wanted to run for re-election from his new district, he’d have to move there.

“I actually have been looking a little bit,” he said.

As for Nybo, who’s serving his first term in the House, he announced this week he’ll instead run for Illinois Senate from the district he lives in.

Also living in the new 24th Senate District: Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale, setting up a likely 2012 primary battle between the two.

“The newly drawn Democratic map has forced difficult choices for many of my colleagues,” Nybo said in a statement announcing his plans. “By running for Senate in this new district, I can continue to represent the largest number of constituents from my current district, including those in Lombard, Elmhurst, Westmont and Oak Brook,”

The primary election isn’t until March 2012, but candidates recently began gathering petition signatures they need to get on the ballot, leading them to make their decisions now.

All of their plans don’t become official until late November, when they file their candidacies with the state.