Andrea Lane Zinga is a former television reporter who ran for as a Republican in both

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Personal life

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, about southwest of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the c ...

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

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

and a master's degree in communications from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

Career in television

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

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

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. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Park 16th Street in Moline, and its transmitter 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 Media, the station maintains studios on Brady Street in downtown Davenport, and its transm ...

(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 CW owned-and-operat ...

. She also worked for three years at

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...

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 pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, on July 27, 1996, during the Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed one person and injured 111 others; another pers ...

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 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power, Class A MyNetworkTV affiliate WBXH-CD (channel 39). The two stations share studios on Government Street i ...

-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 ABC and NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KUIL-LD (channel 12.5). The two stations share studios along I-10/ ...

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

2004 congressional race

Zinga first ran for Congress in 2004 running in the 17th Congressional District 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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

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. Eva ...

. 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's 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) had the opinion 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's strong name recognition, and Zinga's largely underfunded candidacy.

2006 congressional race

Zinga won a highly contested primary on March 21, 2006, defeating businessmen Jim Mowen and Brian Gilliland. She garnered 42 percent of the votes, winning by 325 votes. She felt that based on her efforts in the many small counties that made up a highly-gerrymandered 17th IL district, she 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, was picked to be the Democratic candidate to face Zinga in November. Hare defeated Zinga by 14 percentage 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 and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

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 is currently owned by Gannett. History The oldest ancestor of the ''Journal Star'', the ''Peoria Daily Tra ...

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 ** Phil Hare (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