Illinois state Rep. Elizabeth Coulson will be joining the Republican field competing for the open — and highly competitive — 10th District near Chicago.

Coulson, a centrist who has served in the Illinois legislature since 1997, confirmed to CQ Politics Tuesday that she would be a candidate in 2010 and that she would hold an announcement event next Monday. The Team America’s 10th District Blog reported earlier Tuesday that last night, Coulson told Republican activists in Lake County that she would run for the 10th District seat, which Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk is giving up to run for the Senate. The district includes parts of Cook and Lake Counties.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon with CQ Politics, Coulson said that health care would be a major focus of her campaign. A licensed physical therapist, she was a professor at the Chicago Medical School from 1981 to 2002.