Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), a former member of GOP leadership and key player in the Republican tax cut plan, has lost his reelection fight in a Democratic-swinging suburban district.
Businessman Sean Casten (D) led Roskam by 53 percent to 47 percent with 55 percent of precincts reporting. The Associated Press has called the race.
Roskam had long been a power player in the GOP conference, and as a key subcommittee chairman on the House Ways & Means Committee played an integral role in the GOP’s successful push to dramatically lower corporate interest rates and cut personal rates.
But while his suburban Chicago district had intentionally been drawn by Democrats to be safely Republican so they could gerrymander safe seats around him, it was part of the dramatic suburban swing against President Trump in 2016, and continued this pattern in 2018.
The district had been won by Mitt Romney by eight points in 2012, but Trump lost it by seven — a similar margin as Roskam’s loss.
He’s one of the most powerful Republicans who’ve been shown the door by voters on election night, along with House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX).
