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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Hot (Immigration) Congressional Races

By immigrationprof

Politico.com in an article “’08 hot spots for immigration” has a nice summary of some of the congressional races in which immigration is poised to become a combustible issue.

Connecticut’s 5th District

Republican state Sen. David Cappiello will use immigration as a key campaign issue to hammer freshman Democratic Rep. Christopher Murphy.  The issue has particular potency in the 5th District, as Danbury, one of the state’s largest cities, has been a hotbed of immigration activism. The city’s Republican mayor has been cracking down on illegal immigrants, even pushing the state to deputize its police officers to enforce federal immigration law.

Illinois’ 6th District

Immigration has emerged as a central issue in the fight for this upper-middle-class suburban Chicago district.  Freshman GOP Rep. Peter J. Roskam effectively deployed the issue against last year’s nominee, Tammy Duckworth, a decorated Iraq war hero. The likely 2008 Democratic nominee, Jill Morgenthaler, is going on the offensive, accusing Roskam of neglecting border security.

Texas’ 23rd District. Democratic

Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, usually a liberal stalwart, was the only member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to back a tough-on-immigration proposal earlier this year. This could also come back to bite him politically in a district that is nearly two-thirds Hispanic. Rodriguez’s likely Republican opponent is self-funding businessman Quico Canseco, who wants tough enforcement measures to battle illegal immigration.

Utah’s 3rd District

This will be the third straight election in which Rep. Chris Cannon will face a Republican nomination challenge, largely for his approach to immigration issues. GOP opponents David Leavitt and Jason Chaffetz claim Cannon supports “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, which the congressman heatedly denies. Could this be the year Cannon’s number comes up?

Pennsylvania’s 11th District

Hazleton (which saw its anti-immigrant ordinace go down in flames in federal court) Mayor Lou Barletta Barletta is the only Republican to give Democratic Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski a run for his money since the latter came to Congress nearly a quarter-century ago, holding Kanjorski to 56 percent in a 2002 challenge.

KJ