CHAMPAIGN — A group of state Republican officials — not including U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana — unveiled their proposal for new congressional districts on Thursday.

The plan places Johnson in the same congressional district as freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Manteno. Further, it splits Champaign and Vermilion counties approximately in half, with the district lines running just south of Champaign-Urbana.

The Republican-backed group that offered the map proposal in a federal court filing in Chicago did not explain its reasons for seemingly punishing Johnson, a six-term Republican.

But Johnson had raised the ire of some state Republicans earlier this summer when he stated a legal challenge to a Democratic-drawn congressional map had little chance and when he announced he would begin aggressively campaigning in the new 13th Congressional District.

Johnson's staff released a statement Thursday afternoon that repeated earlier themes that Johnson believed the Democratic map was unfair but that he wished to focus on re-election in a district that now stretches from Champaign-Urbana southwest to the Illinois suburbs of metropolitan St. Louis.

"While Congressman Johnson believes the redistricting process leading to this map was unfair and a distortion of the people's wishes, these challenges have not ever succeeded, so he has decided to devote his energy and resources to his re-election campaign," the statement said. "He hopes that an impartial court will modify the map in a way that will better serve the voters of the state."

Johnson's staff declined to make any further comment on the proposal.

The GOP map, submitted by a group known as the Committee for a Fair and Balanced Map, whose leaders include former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and former Reps. Lynn Martin and Tom Ewing, splits only 13 of Illinois 102 counties, but two of them (Champaign and Vermilion) are among Johnson's strongest areas. Further, the map takes away some counties — Douglas, Moultrie and Piatt counties — that Johnson has served either in Congress or the Legsislature for most of his 35-plus years in politics.

The Republican group said their map was fairer to Latino voters because it would create two districts that could elect a Latino candidate, while the Democratic-drawn map had just one such district. They said their map also was more compact and would split fewer counties than the 18 divided in the Democratic map, and probably would elect 10 Republicans and eight Democrats, consistent with the results of the 2010 congressional elections in Illinois. The plaintiffs claim the Democratic-drawn map probably would elect 12 Democrats and six Republicans.