Midterms Update

Trump’s Illinois Swing Takes Him Far From Chicago’s Suburbs

Mike Bost
Photographer: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images

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By Kim Chipman and Derek Wallbank

October 26, 2018 at 8:26 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

President Donald Trump heads to southern Illinois on Saturday in a bid to shore up Republican support in a congressional district that not long ago was a Democratic stronghold.

With the Chicago suburbs posing a headache for Republicans amid a strong dose of anti-Trump sentiment, the party is trying to ensure the survival of incumbents such as 12th District Representative Mike Bost. Trump’s rally is planned in the Murphysboro area in the 12th congressional district of southern Illinois, closer to Missouri and Kentucky than the Midwest’s largest city. Trump is the first sitting U.S. president to visit the area since Bill Clinton spoke at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1995.