Analysis: Peoria area’s Congressional Districts similar, with key differences

Congress’ next election is about 20 months away, but as ongoing fund-raising appeals via emails and texts show, campaigning seemingly never ends.

Greater Peoria straddles two Congressional Districts, and frequent contrasts between representatives from neighboring areas can be distinctive.

In some ways, that’s odd. Both the new 16^th Congressional District (made up of much of the former 18^th) and the 17^th (remapped decades ago from the old 19^th District) feature considerable rural areas and prominent urban centers (Peoria and the Quad Cities, respectively). Both also have major industrial employers (Caterpillar and John Deere, to name two). Nevertheless, dramatic differences in Congressmen’s politics often bumped heads.

In the 1980s and '90s, there was conservative Republican Bob Michel from Peoria and progressive Democrat Lane Evans from Rock Island. For years in the early 2000s, there was progressive Phil Hare from Rock Island and conservative Aaron Schock from Peoria.

Today is comparable, with progressive Eric Sorensen, the first-term Democrat from Moline in the 17^th, and conservative Republican Darin LaHood, who’s served the Peoria area since 2015.

So it’s arguably instructive to compare the districts’ demographics, based on U.S. Census data released this winter.

The populations are close; that’s mandated in how legislatures create districts, with 744, 298 in the 16^th and 749,520 in the 17^th, and the gender breakdown is similar, with the 16^th having about 4,000 more men and the 17^th with about 13,000 more women.

People 65 years old and up make up almost 1 in 5 citizens in each district, but the biggest age-group slice is older in the 16^th, which has 94,526 people between 45 and 54 years old (12.7%), and the 17^th having 92,190 people 25-34 (12.2%).

Both districts’ dominant ancestries are German (27.8% in the 16^th and 20.1% in the 17^th) and Irish (13.4% in the 16th and 11.6% in the 17th). The 16th has 44,138 military veterans, and the 17th has 39,060 vets.

Of course, working people are no more of a unified voting bloc than women, vets, minorities, etc. Nevertheless, a glance at employment is interesting. The 16th has 595,594 people 16+ years old; the 17th has more – 603,980. Civilian residents 16+ in the labor force number 354,979 in the 16th and 329,509 in the 17th. However, unemployment seems to follow suit, with 20,727 jobless in the 16th and 27,895 in the 17th).

 

Here’s a snapshot of industries and occupations in the districts:

 

16^th industries’ workers

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining          8,520

Construction   22,763

Manufacturing            56,886

Wholesale trade          10,790

Retail trade     35,906

Transportation and warehousing, and utilities           24,138

Information     4,601

Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing             28,042

Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services    26,897

Educational services, and health care and social assistance   84,213

Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services           24,332

Other services, except public administration 16,324

Public administration 11,567

 

16^th occupations

Management, business, science, and arts occupations           150,477

Service occupations    49,273

Sales and office occupations  64,993

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations            32,958

Production, transportation, and material moving occupations            57,278

 

17^th industries’ workers

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining          5,676

Construction   18,678

Manufacturing            49,917

Wholesale trade          8,798

Retail trade     42,434

Transportation and warehousing, and utilities           19,271

Information     3,409

Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing             19,647

Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services    27,575

Educational services, and health care and social assistance   77,685

Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services           32,477

Other services, except public administration 12,855

Public administration 11,087

 

17^th occupations

Management, business, science, and arts occupations           111,351

Service occupations    60,028

Sales and office occupations 70,376

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations             24,253

Production, transportation, and material moving occupations             63,501

 

Notable for being remarkably similar are jobs in professional, scientific, etc. fields, and in public administration. Several sectors and job types are markedly different – by thousands. The 16^th has greater employment in the manufacturing, transportation, finance/insurance/real estate (FIRE), and schools-healthcare-social-services sectors, and more jobs in management/business, etc. and natural resources-construction, etc.

The 17^th outpaces its neighbor in retail, and arts/entertainment sectors, and a higher number of jobs in service occupations, sales/office jobs, and production and moving work.

(Perhaps the most surprising is the relative lack of activity in farming plus forestry, fishing and mining, with just 8,520 in the 16^th and 5,676 in the 17^th. That means to defy expectations for rural areas, much less politicians’ pandering to an idyllic farming America, which apparently has fallen victim to Big Business’ mantra of “doing more with less.”)

What this all means will be speculated by well-paid campaign consultants and spin doctors, naturally, but for everyday voters, the glimpse may help us all appreciate where we fall on incumbents’ priorities.