CHICAGO – Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, one of the few congressional Democrats from rural America, said Friday that she will not seek reelection next year, stepping aside after playing a lead role in 2020 elections that unexpectedly saw her party nearly lose House control.
Bustos, who was first elected to her largely rural district in 2012, became chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2020 campaign after arguing that Democrats needed to do more to appeal to voters in the heartland who supported Donald Trump and other Republicans in 2016.
Instead, she drew fire from fellow Democrats last fall after guiding the DCCC to a near-disastrous Election Day. While many in both parties and independent analysts thought