NBC Chicago says that Illinois State Senator Toi Hutchinson(D-Olympia Fields) is exploring running in the special election in the Illinois 2nd to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. Olympia Fields is in the 2nd district, and there seems to be a heavy field of candidates that want to run. Some establishment Democratic officials are saying "coll your jets" to those who want to run, presumably so Rahm Emmanual can stick his pick for that seat. I would rather see the best possible candidate win, and one that lives in the district. Some of the other floated candidates don't live in the 2nd like former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
State Senator Hutchinson currently enjoys great ratingsfrom the Illinois AFL-CIO(92% Lifetime as of 2011, 100% on positions in 2011) and surprisingly the NRA(92% as of 2012). The NRA is a Republican interest group so that may change if she is elected to Congress.
Hutchinson's voting record includes a yes vote to anti-bullying legislation, voting yes to smart grid, voting yes to abolishing the death penalty in Illinois, and voting yes to Medical Marijuana. However, she did also vote yes to expanded gambling and voted noto requiring plastic bags to be recycled.
As far as bills that State Senator Hutchinson has mainly sponsored: at least one of them concerned domestic violence.
I will have to keep an eye out for exactly who ends up running to replace Jesse Jackson Jr, but a 39 year old African-American woman with a good voting record and who lives in the district sounds like a good one to me. Since I don't live in Illinois, I would like to hear local feedback about who they think should represent the Illinois 2nd.
EDIT 3:56 P.M EST: I edited out my erroneous assertion that Crete is part of the 11th(Crete is where former [U.S] Representive Debbie Halvorson lives.). I was going by Wikipedia and I checked the Govtrack.us 2012 district lines and Crete is part of the 2nd district. I apologize for my error there.