Politics & Government
Illinois Primary Election 2018 Races: Who Won?
Voters nominated candidates for governor, attorney general, Congress, and other offices Tuesday. Some were very happy. Others, not so much.
The clown car of the 2018 Illinois primary elections revved up and rolled over on Tuesday, March 20, as voters headed to the polls in the final intraparty showdowns for some of the most important offices in the Land of Lincoln. There was a little bit of a TV sitcom quality to this election, with Republican Bruce Rauner and Democrat J.B. Pritzker ultimately securing victory amid this cast of characters.
One thing we definitely know for sure — come November, the really-rich white guy is gonna win.
The primary campaign season featured those two billionaires, a Kennedy (not the prettiest or most well-spoken Kennedy, but a Kennedy nonetheless), an ex-gov running for attorney general, vulnerable Democrats, vulnerable Republicans, and a Nazi. Yes, a real jew-hating, Holocaust-denying Nazi.
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That Nazi will still be around for the general election, too.
The two most villainous figures in the Illinois primary — if TV campaign ads are to be believed — were Donald Trump and Mike Madigan. They also will prove to be foils for the general election. Each in his own way is portrayed, not without justification, as an existential threat to democracy.
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» Scroll down for links to all covered elections, or read up on the Illinois Governor's Race
Buying your vote has cost the candidates a lot of coin, too. Billionaire Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker has spent a record-setting $70 million of his own fortune to date, though the latest polling showed he was just barely inching past his leading challengers, Chris Kennedy, son of the late Robert Kennedy, and Daniel Biss, a state senator and former math teacher from Evanston who presented himself as the middle-class candidate. Ultimately, the deep-pocketed Democrat prevailed and cruised to an early and decisive projected victory Tuesday night.
He spent about $170,000 a day to win. To put Pritzker's $70 million into perspective, it's more than Trump paid to win the GOP presidential primary two years ago. That kind of money is better than an apology when you've been caught talking disparagingly about black politicians on FBI wiretaps with Rod Blagojevich. Still, Pritzker said he was sorry anyway.
Organized labor, looking for a Rauner slayer for the general election, backed Pritzker to the hilt, even cutting down a journalist working for the labor-owned Chicago Sun-Times media company who dared to call out Pritzker for his behind-closed-doors disrespect to African-Americans.
Pritzker seemed to tacitly acknowledge that mistake in his victory speech, saying "I'm not a perfect person. I'm not going to pretend to be."
Biss, who trailed in third place in many polls, finished second. Perhaps the backing of Pussy Riot put him over the top.
Rauner, hated by organized labor and probably Pussy Riot, too, did not cruise to an easy victory. He sweated throughout the night. For years, he's been railing against and campaigning against House Speaker Mike Madigan — the dark lord of Springfield. But suddenly Rauner discovered in the 11th hour he had a real primary opponent breathing down his neck.
Ultimately, Jeanne Ives finished just 3 percentage points behind Rauner in the final tally. Ives, a state representative from Wheaton, for months called out the least popular governor in America for letting down conservatives, in general, and anti-abortion activists, specifically by signing a bill expanding public funding of abortions.
Conservatives who detest Rauner got behind Ives. The National Review, which endorsed Ives last week, called him the worst governor in Illinois and drew particular attention to his abortion-rights leanings.
The billionaire North Shore businessman who spent his way into the governor's mansion four years ago and then managed not to pass a budget for years (we're the least fiscally stable state in the U.S. now, says U.S. News) spent $17 million on TV ads in this primary.
After four years of chanting "Madigan, Madigan, Madigan," as if he's the neglected middle sister in a politically themed Brady Bunch redux, can he come up with something else to say in the march toward the general election in March?
Here it is! @GovRauner naming Speaker Mike Madigan not 29 times as previously mentioned ... but 31 times (and a couple of Pritzker's too) #ILPrimary #ILGov #twill pic.twitter.com/Gf36UYJeqY
— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) March 19, 2018
One name Rauner tries really hard not to say: Trump. He knows how unpopular the president is in Illinois.
Pritzker, however, knows, too. And he's going to be tying Trump and Rauner together every chance he gets.
As midnight approached, there was one national race to watch in Illinois that was too close to call. By morning, the incumbent had squeaked out an apparent victory. Trump figured into this contest, too.
The backers of Marie Newman, challenging incumbent 3rd District Democratic Congressman Dan Lipinski, eagerly tied Lipinski's foot to the lead anvil of Trump and the GOP. Their ads featured a sneery, death's head visage of Lipinski standing behind the president.
Newman was backed by the likes of Bernie Sanders, progressive groups and abortion-rights advocates, and Lipinski's anti-abortion positions made him vulnerable. Really vulnerable. Experts note a strong Democratic turnout — which proved out — could have sent him packing. They almost did.
Newman conceded Wednesday morning.
MUST WATCH --> this debate in Illinois about birth control. Note: these are two Democrats pic.twitter.com/C6ciY7FoDz
— Kasie DC (@KasieDC) March 19, 2018
Lipinski now gets to face the Nazi — Art Jones — who's running for the GOP and is a big fan of Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, after the nominees emerge, we get to gin up this whole shebang again for the November general election.
— by Dennis Robaugh
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Illinois Primary Election Results
STATE OFFICES
CONGRESS
2nd District Results - portions of Cook, Kankakee and Will counties, along with sections of Chicago's southeast side.
3rd District Results - portions of south suburban Cook County and Will County, including Beverly, Burbank, Lemont, Homer Glen, La Grange, Romeoville and Crest Hill.
4th District Results - parts of Cook County including Humboldt Park, Pilsen and Little Village.
5th District Results - sections of Cook and DuPage counties, including neighborhoods on Chicago's north and northwest sides, O'Hare airport and Oak Brook.
6th District Results - portions of Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties including Algonquin, Crystal Lake, Darien, Downers Grove, Elgin, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, Lake in the Hills, Oak Brook, Oak Brook Terrace, Palatine, Warrenville, Wheaton and West Chicago.
7th District Results - portions of Cook County including areas on Chicago's south and west sides as well as the western suburbs such as Bellwood, Oak Park and Maywood.
9th District Results - parts of north suburban Cook County, including Des Plaines, Evanston, Niles, Morton Grove and Winnetka.
10th District Results - sections of Lake and northern Cook County, including Deerfield, Fox Lake, Grayslake, Highland Park, Libertyville, Mundelein, Wheeling and Zion.
11th District Results - sections of DuPage, Kane and Kendall counties including Aurora, Naperville, Joliet, Darien, Montgomery, Downers Grove, Lisle and New Lenox.
14th District Results - parts of DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties including Algonquin, Aurora, Batavia, Elgin, Geneva, Joliet, Plainfield, Oswego, Shorewood, St. Charles and Yorkville.
STATE HOUSE
8th Senate District Results - parts of Chicago's north side and northwest suburbs including Niles and Skokie.
17th District Results - southwest Cook County including Archer Heights and Gage Park.
25th District Results - portions of Chicago including Hyde Park, Woodlawn, South Shore and Pullman.
27th District Results - parts of Palos Heights, Crestwood and far south side neighborhoods.
28th District Results - portions of far South Side Roseland and West Pullman, Robbins and Midlothian.
29th District Results - south suburban Crete, Monee, South Holland and parts of far South Side Riverdale.
31st District Results - suburban Countryside, Willow Springs and Hometown, along with South Side Ashburn and Auburn Gresham.
38th District - parts of south suburban Cook County including Tinley Park, Markham, Hazel Crest and Matteson.
47th District Results - parts of suburban Elmhurst, Oak Brook, Hinsdale and Westmont.
53rd District Results - parts of northwest suburban Cook County including Arlington Heights.
59th District Results - portions of Buffalo Grove, Vernon Hills and Mundelein.
82nd District Results - parts of west suburban Lemont, Burr Ridge, Darien, Hinsdale, Homer Glen, Western Springs, Willow Springs and Woodridge.
Park district bonds and land sale in Frankfort
White Oak Library in Romeoville and Lockport
District 99 bond issue in Downers Grove and Woodridge
Minooka Community Consolidated School District No. 201 $90 million building bond question
Thomas Ford Library in Western Springs
New Lenox Fire Protection District tax rate increase
Troy Fire Protection District pension fund
Question regarding dissolving the Aurora Election Commission
lead photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images
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