Glenn Poshard

The new district contained 40% of Bruce's constituents from the old 19th and 30% of Poshard's constituents from the old 22nd.

Poshard was able to win large majorities in the far southern part of the district and subsequently Poshard won the Democratic primary with approximately 62% of the vote.

During the primary, Poshard was outspent $800,000 to $200,000.

Poshard was reelected to another three terms.

As Congressman, he was considered to be a social conservative and fiscal progressive populist; he was opposed to abortion, gay marriage, and the death penalty largely on religious grounds, and opposed free trade agreements.

Glendal William Poshard (born October 30, 1945) is an American educator and former politician who served as a Illinois State Senator and U.S. Congressman, serving five terms in Congress from 1989 to 1999.

He was also a Illinois gubernatorial candidate, and president of the Southern Illinois University system.

Poshard was born October 30, 1945, in Herald, Illinois.

He served in South Korea with the 1st Cavalry Division of the United States Army.

Poshard is a three-degree graduate of Southern Illinois University.

He received a bachelor's degree in secondary education in 1970, a master's degree in educational administration in 1974 and a Ph.D. in administration of higher education in 1984.

After graduating from college, he taught high school, coached high school sports, and served as director of the Southern Illinois Educational Service Center in Benton, Illinois from 1975 to 1984.

In the 1982 Democratic primary, Poshard challenged incumbent State Senator Gene Johns, but lost.

After Johns' death two years later, local Democratic leaders appointed Poshard to the vacancy.

Eve Johns, Johns' widow and an unsuccessful candidate for the appointment, opted to run as an independent.

As no candidate ran in for the Republican nomination in the 1984 primary, local Republican leaders nominated State Representative Robert Winchester.

In the 1984 general election, Poshard was victorious winning 47,230 votes to Winchester's 39,173 votes and Johns' 5,862 votes.

Poshard served in the Illinois State Senate from August 1984 to January 1989.

In the 1986 general election, Poshard was reelected by a commanding margin against Republican candidate Richard Simmons of Marion.

Poshard ran for U.S. Representative from Illinois' 22nd Congressional District and was elected in 1988.

Poshard resigned from the Illinois Senate on January 2, 1989 to take his seat in Congress.

Local Democratic leaders chose State Representative Jim Rea from a field of fourteen applicants.

After Illinois lost a district as a result of the 1990 Census, Poshard's district was merged with the neighboring 19th District of fellow Democratic Congressman Terry L. Bruce.

He sponsored the Illinois Wilderness Act of 1990, which created the Garden of the Gods Wilderness, and he cosponsored the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century and the Credit Union Membership Access Act. He voted against the Flag Desecration Amendment.

While in Congress, he twice earned a place on Roll Call's Obscure Caucus list and earned a reputation as prioritizing his district's needs over national media.

After he left Congress, Poshard and his wife Jo founded the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, which raises more than $100,000 annually to fund care for abused children and other victims of domestic abuse throughout southern Illinois.

In 1998 Poshard ran for governor against Republican Secretary of State George Ryan.

He was somewhat more conservative on social issues than Ryan, a moderate Republican.

While this garnered him support from social conservatives who normally voted Republican, it also cost him some support from Chicago liberals.

In keeping with his views on campaign financing, Poshard severely curtailed contributions to his campaign.

He refused to accept any corporate or special interest group donations and limited private donations to a small amount per individual.

He thus faced a significant financial disadvantage in the campaign against Ryan and was outspent by a roughly 4 to 1 margin.

Poshard was first to alert the public about Ryan's connection to the "licenses for bribes" scandal and other corruption.

Some individuals, even prominent Democrats like former Senator Paul Simon, criticized Poshard for his attacks on Ryan's corruption.

Among its many activities, the Poshard Foundation led efforts to construct a new $600,000 women's shelter in Cairo, Illinois that opened in December 2003.

However, Poshard was vindicated to a considerable extent when Ryan was indicted in late 2003 on 22 counts of racketeering conspiracy, mail and tax fraud, and false statements charges alleging public corruption during his terms as Illinois Secretary of State and as governor.

Ryan was subsequently convicted and was sentenced to serve six and a half years in prison.

Poshard lost the governor's race to Ryan by a 47–51% margin.

The National Taxpayers Union ranked him 13th of 256 Democrats in the 103rd Congress.

He was also a strong proponent of campaign finance reform.