Bustos win just how it was drawn up?

The Colona Republican lost Tuesday to former East Moline Alderwoman Cheri Bustos, a Democrat.

The 17th was redrawn by a Democratic Legislature and favored Democrats. Bustos took 53 percent of the vote, Schilling 47 percent.

Redistricting was responsible “100 percent” for the outcome, Terry Schilling said.

Before, the district was 57 percent Democrats, he said, and now it’s 60 percent.

“Cheri won by 53 percent of the vote ... take away 3 percent, changed outcome.”

Name recognition also was a problem, he said.

“It’s a 50 percent brand-new district. Fifty percent never heard of [Bobby Schilling] before, didn’t have the relationship.”

Bustos spokesman Arden Manning did not return a call Wednesday afternoon seeking comment.

The campaign worked “really hard” in new parts of the district, especially Peoria and Rockford, Terry Schilling said.

Bustos won Peoria County with 18,986 votes to Schilling’s 10,588 votes; she won Winnebago County with 19,393 votes to Schilling’s 10,618, according to The Associated Press.

The Schilling campaign also focused on Rock Island County, which it knew was a Democratic district, he said. Bustos beat Schilling by 7,000 votes there.

“Mitt Romney lost by 15,000, [meaning] 8,000 crossed party lines for Bobby in Rock Island alone,” Terry said.

Terry said Rockford was the “finishing touch, primarily because we focused a lot on the manufacturing sector, probably not enough on community organizations.”

“In Rockford, a lot of people [were] going to the polls to vote Obama and went straight Democratic all the way down.”

His dad has not yet decided whether he will make another political run, Schilling said, adding that it will be a family decision.

In the meantime, Bobby Schilling released a statement Wednesday saying he soon will return to work at Saint Giuseppe’s Heavenly Pizza in Moline.

“I always said that the best part of not being a career politician is that I can always go back to my business, and I look forward to getting back to making the best pizza the Quad Cities has to offer,” he said in the statement.