Federal and state intervention, coupled with new revenue from casino gambling, restored most city services by the mid-1990s, but residents still face high unemployment and poverty. Other cities in the 12th also stand on precarious ground. Alton has had to bolster its industrial base with riverboat gambling. Belleville, where Scott Air Force Base is the largest employer, worries about defense cutbacks. And coal mining has almost completely disappeared from the hilly, southern end of the district.
Higher education remains one of the few steadfast employers.
The district's economic anxiety and relatively large minority population make it solidly Democratic turf. A few corn and hog farmers in western counties lean toward the GOP, but they are too few to sway the district.