U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren told supporters late Thursday night he intends to run for re-election in the redrawn 14th Congressional District.

In a letter sent to supporters, Hultgren said the Republican cause has made great progress in the last eight months, but his work was not finished.

"Government spends, borrows and taxes too much, and millions of Americans are still out of work," his letter stated. "We owe it to our kids and grandkids to turn this around and leave them a better country than what we were given."

He said a formal announcement would come soon.

Hultgren could face U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh for the 14th District. Walsh, also a Republican, represents the 8th District now but was drawn out of that district.

Springfield lawmakers must redraw state and congressional boundaries every 10 years following the U.S. Census. Illinois is losing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to faster-growing states, bringing its total to 18 for the next decade.

Under the existing map, the 14th District stretches from the far western suburbs of Chicago almost to the border with Iowa, and it includes parts of Bureau, DeKalb, DuPage, Henry, Kane, Kendall, Lee and Whiteside counties.

It would be more compact under the new map, including parts of DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake and McHenry counties.

Because Democrats controls both houses of the General Assembly and the governor’s office, it could redraw state and congressional districts without Republican input or support.

Republicans in 2010 picked up four Illinois seats in Congress and held onto a fifth. The new map seeks to eliminate those gains by pairing Republicans against one another, stretching Democratic Chicago districts into the Republican suburbs, and pitting GOP freshmen against seasoned Democratic incumbents.

Republicans are challenging the map in court.

DeKalb County will remain split between the 14th and 16th Congressional Districts, and the boundary line between the 14th and 16th districts would follow township lines. Sycamore Township would be cut almost in half, with the southern half in the 14th District and the rest in the 16th District, DeKalb County Clerk John Acardo has said.

The north-south dividing line for Sycamore Township would be Lindgren Road, from East County Line Road to Plank Road. The line then would weave up and down for a few miles – although it would always remain south of Pioneer Way and Davis Drive – until it reached Route 23.

It would head south to Peace Road, travel west on Peace until it hit Ward Boulevard, go north on Ward, then zigzag through a field until it hit Frantum Road. It would go north on Frantum until it reached North Grove Road, then continue west until it hit the Sycamore Township boundary line.

All of Cortland, Pierce, Squaw Grove, Sandwich and Somonauk townships would be in the 14th District. The other 13 townships in the county would be in the 16th District.