Illinois Democrats say they won a large majority in the House
In their first general election since the departure of impeached ex-Speaker Michael Madigan, Democrats in the Illinois House and Senate announced Tuesday that they retained supermajorities as Republicans battled to gain ground across the state.
“We know that when we fight, we win — and that couldn’t be more true tonight,” said House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside. “House Democrats have fought tirelessly for working families and won important legislative victories to protect reproductive rights, rebuild our infrastructure, fund important public safety initiatives and more.”
The post-Madigan election has been a major test of the political skills of incoming Speaker and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, as he presided over an overhaul of legislative district boundaries following the once-a-decade federal census and worked to implement or build on it. unilateral number in both chambers.
“The people have spoken. Now it’s time to start driving,” Harmon said.
The Democratic victory prompted House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs to announce he will not seek another term as House GOP leader, saying he was disappointed by the results but agreed with them.
“Serving as House GOP leader has been the honor of a lifetime, but it’s time for the Illinois Republican Party to rebuild with new leaders who can bring back to the party the independents needed to change the state,” Durkin said.
“I started this journey as the voice of moderation and I’m ending this journey as I started, the voice of moderation,” Durkin said, adding, “Don’t lose hope for the people of Illinois who are disappointed by these results. Tomorrow is a new day.”
Despite Democrats clinging to a supermajority, Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorne Woods pointed to the modest GOP gathering in his chamber as one of the few bright spots of the evening for his party. He said members of his caucus will continue to serve as “a strong voice for the people of Illinois who are unhappy with the failed policies coming out of Springfield and want to see change.”
But McConchie criticized the way Welch and Harmon redrawn district lines into a “rigged system” that favored Democrats with “some of the most fraudulent districts we’ve ever seen.”
One high-profile Democratic race that remained close involved an incumbent senator from the southwest suburbs who was challenged by fellow Democratic governor J. B. Pritzker wanted to resign because of accusations of indecent behavior with women.
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The accused Democratic senator won re-election without opposition. And the House Democrat, who is under federal investigation, led overwhelmingly when unofficial results were released Tuesday night.
The final partisan breakdowns in each cell were still taking shape.
Republicans have acknowledged that it will take near-biblical voter turnout to win a majority in either chamber, but GOP leaders in the House and Senate have expressed hope that they can break the Democratic supermajority that has allowed one party to dominate key votes in important questions for many years.
Several races — mostly in the Chicago suburbs, where Democrats have claimed territory in longtime GOP strongholds over the past decade — remained a key battleground in determining the final outcome in a divided state and country.
Long the undisputed master of redistricting, Madigan left Springfield last year shortly after his own House Democrats refused to give him another term as speaker in light of a growing bribery and collusion scandal that eventually led to two rounds federal indictments, one involving ComEd in March and one involving AT&T in October.
Madigan, who served as speaker for a record 36 years, resigned weeks after the ouster and more than a year before the first indictment. The Chicago Democrat pleaded not guilty.
Madigan bequeathed Welch a 73-45 Democratic majority in the House. Harmon entered Tuesday night with a stunning 41-18 lead over Republicans.
Like Madigan before them, Democratic legislative leaders have followed the political practice of redistricting to keep their party in power on both sides of the Capitol rotunda.
They handed out highly partisan cards that were happily signed by Democratic Governor J. B. Pritzker, despite the protests of critics of the Republican Party, who accused him of breaking his campaign promise to ensure greater fairness in the redistribution of voters.
Heading into Tuesday, the biggest pressure was on Welch to prove he could uphold Madigan’s mystique and ensure that House Democrats hold at least 71 of the 118 seats, the minimum needed to control a three-fifths supermajority.
While most bills require only a simple majority to pass, a three-fifths vote comes into play for major borrowing bills, overriding a governor’s veto or attempts to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot for voters.
Durkin suffered a major blow in his failed bid to pick up three more seats to break the Democratic supermajority. Durkin hoped to tame voter anger fueled by crime issues, and inflationary gas, grocery and mortgage rates have boosted the Republicans’ chances of making gains in Springfield when ballots are cast in anger.
But Democrats turned to pro-abortion-rights voters to provide their party’s political counterweight after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade.
In a rare June primary, the volatility of the electorate demonstrated an “anti-establishment” attitude that ended with the defeat of some candidates from both parties.
Senate Republicans needed to pick up six seats to deprive Senate Democrats of the minimum 36-lawmaker supermajority needed for a three-fifths vote in the upper chamber.
And while that was a tall order given how Democrats had held power in Springfield for years, Senate Republicans initially wanted to take advantage of national trends going their way.
Despite this, many candidates went through the election without a problem. Only 78 out of 118 elections to the House of Representatives included more than one candidate. In the Senate, only 25 of the 59 seats were contested, the result of decades of legislative redistricting maneuvers that allowed lawmakers to choose their constituents, not the other way around.
In one race, a federal indictment didn’t make one Democratic incumbent sweat a re-election bid.
No one ran against Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, clearing the way for former Senate President Emil Jones Jr.’s son to win another term.
In September, Jones III was charged with accepting a $5,000 bribe from a red-light camera company to defeat legislation requiring the systems to study traffic and lying to federal agents about his actions. He pleaded not guilty.
In a tight, contentious race in the southwest suburb, Democratic Sen. Michael Hastings of Frankfort has been hit by a series of negative headlines centered around allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women.
Republican challenger Patrick Sheehan of Lockport received significant support from Will County voters, while Hastings received the most support from Cook County in a race that came down to the wire.
Sheehan said he was optimistic, saying, “We’ve worked our tail off.” A spokesman for Hastings had no comment.
Hastings’ ex-wife accused him of domestic violence while they were married. He has not been charged with a crime. The documents also showed the state paid nearly $150,000 to settle and cover costs in a 2019 lawsuit brought by Hastings’ former female chief of staff, who alleged retaliation and racial and gender discrimination.
Despite being a fellow Democrat, Pritzker took the unusual step of asking Jones and Hastings to resign as soon as their problems became known. Neither that nor the other.
Also re-elected unopposed was Chicago Sen. Algie Sims, who was approached in the spring by FBI agents investigating potential influence peddling involving a maker of police cameras. Sims’ attorney said the senator, who initiated a sweeping criminal justice reform package passed a year ago, did nothing wrong.
Playing on the defensive, incumbent Democratic Sen. Susie Glowiak Hilton of Western Springs edged out incumbent Republican Dennis Rebaletti of Elmhurst, who has conceded.
In a tight House race, two-term Democrat Ann Stava-Murray of Naperville declared victory, but Republican Paul Leong, a Naperville City Council member, said he was not ready to concede.
Freshman Democrat Janet Jan Rohr of Naperville faces a challenge from Republican Rich Gianor, a Naperville Park District commissioner who has conceded.
In the southern suburbs, Democratic Rep. Thaddeus Jones of Calumet City, who the Tribune reported was under federal investigation, had a wide lead over Republican Rep. Jeffrey Coleman of Dolton.
House Democrats have targeted four-term Rep. Keith Wheeler of Oswego, an aide to the GOP leader who is trailing Democratic challenger Matt Hanson of Aurora.
In a Senate race between two Bartlett candidates, Democrat Lauren Novak lost to Republican Rep. Seth Lewis. But Lewis said he is not ready to declare victory. It was not possible to get a comment from Novak.
Democratic Sen. Chris Tharp of Bethalto said he still has hope but is slightly behind Republican Erica Harris of Glen Carbon.
One of several other downstate battles pitted two General Assembly members from Springfield against each other.
The tight race at the capitol pits incumbent Democratic Sen. Doris Turner of Springfield, where she once served on the city council, and her Senate challenger, Republican Rep. Sandy Hamilton, a Springfield real estate agent.
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