Original sentence: Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 from the 13th District, which then spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park-Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn
Edited sentence: After she was defeated by Jesse Jackson, Jr.House of Representatives seat then held by Mel Reynolds, who had been indicted for sexual abuse of an underage campaign worker.In 1995 Alice Palmer,  Illinois State Senator for Chicago's 13th District, ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.In the heavily Democratic 13th District the general election was a formality, with only token opposition from other parties.Obama challenged her petitions, and that of the other three candidates, and disqualified enough signatures so that he was unopposed in the March 1996 primary election.Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998.With a degree of formality that is disputed, she anointed Obama as her chosen successor to represent the areas of Chicago's South Side, including Hyde Park-Kenwood and South Shore, that constituted the 13th District.in a special election held November 1995 she filed to retain the Democratic nomination for her Senate seat