 Republicans made headway into a couple of the state's constitutional
positions and nabbed some seats in the Illinois General Assembly.
But overall, Democrats will still have strong majorities in the
Illinois House and Senate when the new slate of lawmakers is sworn
in come January. And it looks like Pat Quinn will likely continue
being governor, though Illinois voters won't know the final election
results until sometime later this month.
"Democratic leaders know they dodged a bullet," said Kent
Redfield, a political science professor with the University of
Illinois at Springfield. "Two years from now, every seat (in the
House) is going to be up (for election) again. So it'll be up to
them to turn this around."
After Tuesday's general election, Quinn holds a lead of less than
9,000 votes over GOP challenger state Sen. Bill Brady,
R-Bloomington, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to
an Associated Press report.
While election results have yet to be finalized as absentee
ballots continue to be counted, here are the results from Tuesday's
general election:
-
Pat Quinn and running mate Sheila Simon are slightly ahead in the
race to become governor and lieutenant governor, respectively, over
GOP challengers Bill Brady and Jason Plummer.
-
Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Secretary of State Jesse White,
both Democratic incumbents, handily won re-election.
-
Dan Rutherford, a Republican state senator from Chenoa, was
elected treasurer over Robin Kelly, the chief of staff of current
state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.
-
Judy Baar Topinka, a former state treasurer herself, made a
return to statewide politics by being elected comptroller over state
Rep. David Miller, D-Dolton.
-
Democrats in the Illinois Senate will likely no longer have a
majority that is capable of overriding a governor's veto. They will
lose two Senate seats, maintaining a majority of 35 to 23. Suzi
Schmidt, chairman of the Lake County Board, defeated state Sen.
Michael Bond, D-Grayslake for the 31st District seat. In the 49th
District, business contractor Sam McCann unseated state Sen. Deanna
Demuzio, D-Carlinville.
-
Republicans gained seven seats in the
Illinois Senate but will lose one
seat in the House. Republicans were hoping to take
control of the Illinois House but would have needed to get 12 seats to win a
majority. As things stand now, Democrats will have a slimmer
majority of 64 to 54.
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State Rep. Bob Prtichard, R-Sycamore, doesn't think the
Republican seats picked up in the Illinois House will change how
Democrats control the legislative agenda.
"I don't look for it to make a lot of difference," Pritchard
said. "They've still got a majority, and (Illinois House Speaker
Michael) Madigan is a consummate politician. He'll do what he wants
to do."
State Rep. Will Davis, D-East Hazel Crest, said on Tuesday that
Democrats are going to disregard Republican talking points while
launching forward with the interests of Illinois voters in mind.
"As Democrats we have a lot to do. We certainly feel that
whatever the rhetoric that came out of the other party that caused
some of the defeats of today are going to be realized (for their
harm) over the next two or four years," he said.
Democrats will tackle at least one crucial topic in the next
year. Every 10 years, the state must redraw the boundaries for its
legislative and congressional districts, using U.S. census data.
In previous years, redistricting went through a belabored process
that called upon judges of the Illinois Supreme Court and,
eventually, selections out of a hat to determine who would draw the
legislative and congressional maps.
But Illinois Democrats can avoid that situation altogether.
Democrats could use their majorities to pass proposed maps to Quinn,
who could sign them into effect, much like any other legislative
proposal.
Democrats could shape legislative and congressional districts in
their favor for the next decade, according to Redfield.
"I'd expect the (Democratic) leaders and Quinn to work together
and get this done before June," Redfield said. "In years past, we've
had divided legislatures that led to these long conflicts, but
that's not likely to be the case here."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
Reporter Jennifer Wessner contributed to this
report.
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