47th District State Rep Race: Mazzochi Vs. Zordani Results

ELMHURST, IL — The presidential race attracts most of the attention on Election Day. But in the Elmhurst area, the contest for 47th House District is also a key one, with both sides spending hundreds of thousands in advertising.

It's Republican incumbent Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst vs. Democratic challenger Jennifer Zordani of Clarendon Hills.

Results

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With suburbs nationwide rapidly becoming more Democratic, Zordani's party saw this as a good opportunity for a way to expand House Speaker Michael Madigan's majority.

Both candidates are lawyers. Mazzochi's firm specializes in life sciences law, particularly in the medical and pharmaceutical area. Zordani provides regulatory, transactional and litigation counsel to financial services firms.

Mazzochi, formerly the chairwoman of the College of DuPage board, ran for state representative in 2018 and beat her Democratic opponent, Jim Caffrey, with 51.5 percent of the vote. She was appointed in mid-2018 when the longtime Republican incumbent, Patricia Bellock, resigned early.

Both Mazzochi and Zordani are following their parties' playbooks. Mazzochi is running as an anti-Madigan fiscal conservative who stays away from social issues.

Meanwhile, Zordani paints Mazzochi as more invested in the pharmaceutical companies she represents as a lawyer than in the constituents of the 47th District. Zordani declines to say whether she would vote for Madigan as speaker, though she calls him the "face of machine politics." Most of her campaign money has come from Democratic organizations controlled by Madigan.

While Mazzochi won't reveal whether she supports Donald Trump for president, she had plenty to say in his favor on her personal Facebook page in 2016.

Patch also recently found Mazzochi's "Snark of the Day" posts from 2016 where she took shots at transgender people, explained why a "white, male Republican" president was best for liberty and asserted that President Barack Obama sought revenge against "colonialist white men." Mazzochi's campaign has declined to answer questions about the posts.

Since 2016, Mazzochi appears to have stayed away from such comments.

A spokesman for Mazzochi's biggest individual contributor, Ken Griffin, told Patch the lawmaker's 2016 posts do not represent his values. He made his $200,000 donation before Patch's story about Mazzochi's commentary was published.

Check other stories about 47th House District candidates Deanne Mazzochi and Jennifer Zordani:

Mazzochi's Sterigenics Vote Criticized

Mazzochi Receives Special Interest Money

Why Did Elmhurst Lawmaker Avoid Taking Stand On Issue?