Western Illinois Rep. Phil Hare (D), who lost to Republican Rep.-elect Bobby Schilling earlier this month, told Roll Call on Friday that he’s open to running for Congress again in 2012.

“I’m really looking at it seriously,” he said in a phone interview. “I don’t know yet. I’m not a definite.”

Hare was first elected in 2006 to replace his former boss, Democratic Rep. Lane Evans. He won that race with 57 percent of the vote and was unopposed in his 2008 re-election bid.

Hare said he would make a decision about whether to run again by late spring, once he has a better idea what districts will look like after redistricting and has had a chance to discuss the race with family and friends.

He said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Jerry Costello, the only downstate Democrat who won re-election, have both urged him to look into running again.

Illinois is likely to lose one of its 19 seats in the House, but Hare said he’d want to represent the Quad Cities area again. Though redistricting may mean he wouldn’t be in a rematch with Schilling, Hare said he “would kind of look forward to that.”