U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2012 Bustos was endorsed by about two dozen unions active in the 17th congressional district, including the Illinois AFL–CIO, AFSCME and the United Auto Workers. During the primary, she was endorsed by
Dick Durbin. Durbin asked
State Senator Dave Koehler and
Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp to drop out of the race to clear the way for Bustos, a close family friend of his. Gaulrapp reported that during a meeting with Durbin about withdrawing, Durbin said that Bustos had babysat for his family and was a close friend. In a July 2012 article, Bustos wrote that she was running for Congress in order to create good-paying jobs for middle-class Americans, including many "whose jobs are being shipped to China." In the general election, Bustos was one of 39 candidates considered to be the most viable challengers against Republican incumbents to benefit from "Red to Blue" program offered by the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She was endorsed by the
Quad-City Times. In November, she defeated incumbent Republican
Bobby Schilling 53% to 47%. She received a significant boost from redistricting, which replaced
Quincy,
Decatur and the district's portion of
Springfield with the more Democratic portions of Peoria and Rockford. She is the first Democrat to represent a significant portion of Peoria since 1927, and only the second Democrat since the 1850s to represent a significant portion of Rockford. After entering the House, Bustos made national headlines by "interviewing colleagues and posting the short videos on her personal
Snapchat account."
2014 Bustos was challenged by Schilling for reelection in 2014. In a 2012 interview with the
Chicago Tribune editorial board, Bustos expressed support for legislation that would cut congressional pay by 10%. When asked by a member of the board if she would voluntarily give up 10% of her pay should the legislation fail, she said she would. During the 2014 campaign, she said, "When I was in Chicago, I said something that I shouldn't have said, but I never said it on the campaign trail. I never made it as a promise to the people in the 17th congressional district." The
Tribune endorsed Schilling. As they did in October 2012, Bustos and Schilling agreed to debate at the
WQAD-TV News 8 studio on October 9, 2014, with
Good Morning Quad Cities anchor Jim Mertens as moderator. Bustos defeated Schilling in the November 4 general election, 55% to 45%.
2016 Bustos was reelected to the House in the
2016 general election, defeating Republican nominee Patrick Harlan, an insurance agent, truck driver, and local Tea Party activist. In a long profile of Bustos on May 12, 2017,
Politico noted that in 2016 she was the only Democrat to win a House seat by a more than 20-point margin in a district that Trump also won. "If Democrats are going to wrest control of the House from Republicans, argue many party strategists, it's going to happen in large part by doing more of whatever it is Bustos is doing three hours west of Chicago in her nearly 7,000-square-mile district of small towns and soybean fields",
Politico wrote. Calling her "one of the party's rising stars",
Politico quoted her as saying, "I'm a little bit of a different kind of Democrat."
2018 In the
2018 election, Bustos was challenged by Bill Fawell, a real estate broker who attracted media attention for his conspiracy claims that the
9/11 attacks were an inside job perpetrated by the U.S. government. Bustos was reelected with 61.9% of the vote to Fawell's 38.1%.
Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Bustos was elected by her peers to serve as Chair of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the
2020 election. During her term, Bustos led the organization to a record fundraising year and maintained the Democratic majority in the House. After Bustos chose not to seek a second term as chair,
Speaker Nancy Pelosi nominated her to co-chair the House Democratic Steering Committee, replacing
Rosa DeLauro, who was elected Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Potential runs for other offices Bustos considered running for the U.S. Senate in the
2016 election, but announced in March 2015 that she would not. In September 2016, reports emerged that Bustos was a possible candidate for
Governor of Illinois in the
2018 election. In February 2017, Bustos declined to run in that election. During the
election for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in January 2019, Bustos received 4 votes, from
Joe Cunningham of South Carolina;
Jared Golden of Maine;
Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey; and
Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, instead of their party's nominee,
Nancy Pelosi.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Agriculture •
Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management •
Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit •
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure •
United States House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation •
Subcommittee on Highways and Transit •
Committee on Appropriations Caucus memberships •
New Democrat Coalition •
Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus •
Blue Collar Caucus ==Political positions==