Mark Walker's Win Helps Turn 'This Section Of Suburbs Blue'

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — Democrat Mark Walker was the projected winner Tuesday to take over the Illinois House of Representatives seat for the 53rd District. He defeated Republican challenger Eddie Corrigan in the race.

"It's been quite a night," Walker told supporters after his campaign staff announced the victory. "We won all over the place. We turned this section of the suburbs blue …"

The Arlington Heights resident made his announcement as Ann Gillespie, who defeated GOP incumbent Tom Rooney for the 27th District's Illinois Senate seat, looked on. Another big win for the Democrats was Sean Casten's victory Peter Roskam for the 6th District U.S. Congressional seat. Casten becomes the first Democrat elected in that district in more than 45 years.

This is first time in nearly two decades that the 53rd District will be seeing new leadership. Last year, Republican Rep. David Harris announced that he would not run for re-election after representing the district for 18 years.

Eddie Corrigan vs. Mark Walker: Election Results

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Early Tuesday, Corrigan posted a photo online showing him casting his vote.

"Well the easy part is done for the day, I just voted," he wrote.

A University of Notre Dame grad and the outreach coordinator for the state's 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, Corrigan, 29, has been campaigning on tax issues throughout his run for office. He supports a repeal of House Speaker Michael Madigan's state income tax increase and supports a property tax freeze.

"Illinois residents are being forced from their homes due to ever-increasing property taxes," Corrigan told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It is no surprise that Illinois is the number one state for people fleeing to neighboring states for lower taxes and better jobs. I will work each day to provide real property tax relief by supporting a property tax freeze and cutting costly mandates that the General Assembly continues to place on school districts and local units of government."

Walker, 70, also wants to halt the rise of property taxes, but he advocates a different method. He supports a graduated state income tax as a way to help homeowners.

"Property taxes are the top issue that residents of our district bring up when I'm out knocking on doors," Walker, who previously served in the Illinois House from 2009 to 2011, told the Daily Herald. "Property taxes are set locally, so it's important to build discipline and accountability by local units of government. Once we get a graduated income tax, the state can impact property taxes by better funding local school districts, which can take some burden off property taxes.

ELECTIONS: Find Out Who Will Be Illinois' Next Governor And Results From Other State Races

The candidates also have different ideas when it comes to fixing the Illinois' broken public employee pension systems. Walker favors a steady approach to paying off the state's $130 billion unfunded pension liability.

"The reality is our pension problem took more than 30 years to create and will take more than 20 years to correct. There are no silver bullets," he told the Sun-Times. "We have to pay the long-term debt we created by not properly funding pensions years ago. …

"I support smoothing out pension debt payments by restructuring them over time. We must be vigilant about the pension obligations and payments and not create additional problems."

Corrigan, however, backs using the consideration model to repairing the systems.

"Illinois has the highest unfunded pension liability in the United States," he told the Herald. "Lawmakers in Illinois must answer the call and provide a solution which reduces pension costs as well as protecting the hard-earned benefits already promised to retirees.

"I believe the consideration model is the best approach to fix our public employee pension system. This model gives employees choices but does not touch benefits previously earned. The next steps in the consideration model would be reducing benefits levels for new employees and entering them into a defined contribution, hybrid 401(k) system, thus helping to reduce long-term liabilities."

One area that might go toward generating revenue to pay off the state's pension debts is the possible legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Corrigan believes lawmakers need to be careful before they unloose the restrictions currently on the drug.

"This is a hot-button issue, and I believe both sides have done an excellent job arguing in favor of their cause," he told the Herald. "To make a true determination, though, I would have to see specific legislation that would legalize marijuana for recreational use. In my opinion, it would be very reckless for the state to legalize marijuana for the sole purpose of generating new revenue. This is a topic that must be vetted inside and out before further action is taken."

Walker doesn't have those same reservations. He sees legalizing pot as another revenue stream and a way to help alleviate some of the current stress on the state's criminal justice system.

"Yes, we should legalize marijuana and tax it like any other product," he told the Sun-Times. "Not only do studies show it’s significantly safer than alcohol in many ways, but our country should have learned by now that prohibition creates more problems than it solves. The result has been a criminal justice nightmare for thousands of people who’ve been arrested and prosecuted for possession. This has not only contributed to overcrowding in our prisons and jails, but minorities are incarcerated for marijuana infractions at a much higher rate than the rest of the population."

Voting Info

How Late Can I Vote? The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Not sure where you vote? You can find your polling place in Cook County at the clerk's website.

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When are Election Results Official? All vote totals are unofficial and winners are projected until the clerk's office has tabulated all results, including provisional ballots from Election Day and vote by mail ballots postmarked by Election Day. Those votes will be posted 14 days after Election Day, and 21 calendar days after an election, the results are canvassed and become official.

Final, official vote totals will be on the clerk website for Cook County.

Mark Walker (Photo via campaigns)