Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush is seeking his 13th term next year. In Illinois, candidates need petitions to appear on a primary ballot. Rush needs 1,314 valid signatures for the March 2016 primary. He submitted 3,100, but one of his Democratic opponents, Alderman Howard Brookins, challenged the Rush petition. On December 17, employees of the Board of Elections checked the signatures and found that Rush has 1,407 valid signatures, so he had 93 more signatures than he needed. However, that is a validity of only 45.4%.

The challenger still has an opportunity to contest the findings, but Rush will probably prevail.

Rush is perhaps most famous as the only individual who ever defeated Barack Obama in an election for public office. In 2000, Obama, then a State Senator, ran against Rush for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House seat, but Rush won the primary.