Illinois's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Illinois. Based in the south suburbs of Chicago, the district includes southern Cook county, eastern Will county, and Kankakee county, as well as the city of Chicago's far southeast side. Overview Illinois's 2nd congressional district is adjacent to the 1st congressional district to the north and west, the 16th congressional district to the south, and Indiana's 1st congressional district to the east. The district's northeast border follows Lake Michigan's shoreline for several miles. The district was created following the 1830 U.S. census and came into existence in 1833, five months before Chicago was organized as a town. The 2nd congressional district initially included Southeastern Illinois until 1853 and stretches of Northern Illinois until 1873. It has been based in Chicago since 1853, and part of the southeast side since 1903. Redistricting following the 2000 U.S. census placed a majority of the district's population outside Chicago for the first time in 100 years, and moved the district's borders beyond Cook County for the first time since 1873. As in the neighboring 1st District, a majority of this district's residents (62.4%) are African American. The district has been reliably Democratic since the 1960s; it has been in Democratic hands for all but two terms since 1935, and last elected a Republican to Congress in 1950. Democratic congressional candidates regularly receive over 80% of the vote here. It has been held by black representatives since 1981. Demographics The southeast side of Chicago was for many decades the home of numerous Eastern European and Irish immigrants who sought the industrial work of the steel mills and railroad companies which were then dominant in the area. However, as local industry declined in the 1950s and 1960s, these groups were increasingly displaced by African Americans who were gradually migrating southward from other parts of the city. Whereas barely 20% of district residents were black in the 1960s, this figure increased to 70% by the 1980s, and by the 1990s the racial demographics of the 1st and 2nd congressional districts were very similar. At the same time, decreasing population in the district required expanding its borders into the suburbs, and it is now nearly three times the size it was in the 1980s, when it covered only . Following redistricting for the 2000s (decade), 59% of the 2nd congressional district's population resides in the