Andrea Lane Zinga is a former television reporter who ran twice as the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee for Congress in .

Personal history

Zinga was born and raised in

Macomb, Illinois Macomb is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois, southwest of Galesburg. The city is about southwest of Peoria and south of the Quad Cities. A special census held in 2 ...

and is a graduate of Macomb High School. She has a bachelor's degree in education from

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

and a master's degree in communications from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

Career in television

Zinga has been a radio and television reporter and anchorwoman for all three television stations in the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

WQAD-TV WQAD-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Moline, Illinois, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of ABC and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Park 16th Street in Moline, and i ...

KWQC-TV KWQC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Brady Street in downtown Davenport, and its t ...

(while it was still WOC-TV) and

WHBF-TV WHBF-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Burlington, Iowa–licensed The CW, CW owned-and-op ...

. She also worked for three years at

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...

and The Airport Channel (a CNN network provided exclusively to airports). While at CNN, Zinga was the first anchor to report the breaking story of the

Centennial Olympic Park bombing The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, on July 27, 1996, during the 1996 Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed ...

on July 27, 1996 for which she earned a national Emmy. On her way up in the TV News business, Zinga worked at

WAFB WAFB (channel 9) is a television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio ...

-TV Channel 9, the CBS affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as well as

KBMT KBMT (channel 12) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KUIL- ...

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

2004 congressional race

Zinga ran for Congress in the 17th District in 2004 against 11-term incumbent

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Lane Evans Lane Allen Evans (August 4, 1951 – November 5, 2014) was an American attorney and politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007, representing the 17th District of Illinois. Ev ...

. Playing on the similarity between her middle name and Evans first name, her campaign slogan was "It's time to change Lanes." Zinga stirred controversy by using Evans health as a campaign issue, stating that he suffered seriously enough from Parkinson's disease to put his efficacy as a congressman into question. These statements did not sit well with the local media and many voters in the district, who felt this amounted to "kicking a man when he is down," although at least one newspaper, the News Gazette (Champaign Urbana) opined that the health and ability to serve as an official elected by the people and paid by taxpayers was information vital to voters—and many voters agreed. She ended up taking 39% of the votes (111,615 votes), due largely to the district's large number of registered democrats, Evans strong name recognition, and Zinga's largely underfunded candidacy.

2006 congressional race

Zinga won a highly contested primary on March 21, 2006. Defeating Jim Mowen and Brian Gilliland. She garnered 42 percent of the votes, winning by 325 votes attributable. She felt that to her efforts in the many small counties at that time, made up a highly-gerrymandered 17th IL district. Zinga was going to be facing Evans again in 2006. However, Evans announced his retirement and withdrawal from the race after the March primary because of the increasingly debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease. After a vote by democratic precinct committeemen from the 17th congressional district, Evans district director,

Phil Hare Philip Gary Hare (born February 21, 1949) is an American politician who was United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. ...

, was picked to be the democratic candidate to face Zinga in November. Hare defeated Zinga by 14 points. Zinga opposes

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

and strongly supported the American effort in Iraq in the context of the larger war on terrorism. She is pro-life but supports exceptions to protect the life of the mother and in the cases of rape and incest if reported within 72 hours. Zinga has expressed support for secondary screenings for anyone who flags as a potential security risk in boarding airplanes -"Middle Eastern men and Irish grandmothers." Zinga had been endorsed by the

Peoria Journal Star The ''Journal Star'' is the major daily newspaper for Peoria, Illinois, and surrounding area. First owned locally, then employee-owned, it became a Copley Press entity in 1996. In 2007, the paper was sold to Fairport, New York-based GateHouse M ...

for the 17th Congressional District and the Quincy Herald-Whig.

Electoral history

*2004 17th District congressional race **

(D) 61% - 172,320 votes **Andrea Zinga (R) 39% - 111,680 votes *2006 17th District Republican congressional primary **Andrea Zinga 42.1% - 13,287 votes **Jim Mowen 41.2% - 12,962 votes **Brian Gilliland 16.7% - 5,241 votes *2006 17th District congressional race **

(D) 57.21% - 114,638 votes **Andrea Zinga (R) 42.79% - 85,734 votesPolitics
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinga, Andrea People from Macomb, Illinois Western Illinois University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni American television journalists Journalists from Illinois Illinois Republicans Living people Women in Illinois politics Year of birth missing (living people) American women television journalists 21st-century American women