A large and sprawling congressional district covering much of northwest and central Illinois is among the most competitive races in the country this year.

As Republicans attempt to maintain their party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats hope to shrink it — but to do so they will need to maintain control of Illinois’ 17th District.

In that district, incumbent Democrat Eric Sorsensen faces Republican Joe McGraw, a retired Illinois Circuit Court judge.

Sorensen is the first openly gay U.S. Representative from Illinois. He spent most of his career as a television meteorologist in Rockford and the Quad Cities.

“I don’t have political experience, which means I can be a different person in Washington,” he said. Sorensen spoke with WBEZ after a campaign event in Green Valley, just south of Beijing, where he received support from ACTIVATOR — the political arm of the Illinois Farm Bureau.

“He was one of four Democrats who voted for the farm bill in the House Agriculture Committee, and we are grateful to him,” said Mike Deppert, chairman of the Tazewell County Farm Bureau. “We need more bipartisan leadership and Congressman Sorensen…demonstrates it.” »

Sorensen says a Democrat in this district has to be bipartisan.

The district extends from Rockford to the Quad Cities, south through Galesburg, Macomb, then east to Peoria and Bloomington/Normal. Democrats controlled the process of drawing new district boundaries after the previous census, since they are the majority in the state of Illinois. The new 17th Congressional District now encompasses many urban areas and college towns, including some areas that tend to vote more liberal.

But the district also includes many rural areas that traditionally vote Republican.

McGraw sees an opportunity to overturn the siege.

“There are so many blue-collar workers…there are union people, African-Americans who are traditional Democratic voters. We heard they were ready for a change,” McGraw said after a standing rally in Rockford.

“They don’t feel safe, they don’t feel prosperous, and they don’t feel like the government is for them.” They seem like an afterthought,” he said.

McGraw is a former Illinois circuit court judge who retired after 20 years in office to run for Congress. He didn’t say much directly about Donald Trump at the Rockford rally, but he cited some of the Trump campaign’s national talking points — that inflation makes it more expensive for farmers to work and allegations that which border policies lead to endemic crime and drugs. overdose deaths in the district.

The National Republican Congressional Committee’s ad portrays Sorensen as radical or too left-wing for rural Illinois. Although Sorensen says he is actually one of the most bipartisan members of his party, there is evidence that the district tends to be more conservative.

Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter that analyzes elections, expects the district to vote slightly more Democratic than in the last two presidential elections.

But Erin Covey, who covers House races for Cook Political Report, says the district is largely white and working-class — two demographics that Republicans have made progress with during the Trump presidency.

Despite how competitive the race is by Illinois standards, she says there are other races nationally that attract more attention.

“The 17th District of Illinois is less competitive than a few dozen other races that we have placed in more competitive categories, but it is still a race that is on the edge of the battlefield and therefore receives national resources of both parties,” she said. said.

As of October 16, Sorensen had raised about $4.7 million, compared to McGraw’s nearly $1.4 million. Sorenson outspent McGraw by a margin of 3-to-1, making this congressional race the second costliest in Illinois.

For both Republicans and Democrats trying to strengthen their positions in the U.S. House of Representatives, this is also the most important race in Illinois.

Alex Degman is an Illinois state reporter for WBEZ based in Springfield.