AP Calls 14th Congressional for Underwood, Oberweis Likely to Seek Recount
The Associated Press projected Thursday that freshman Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) narrowly defeated State Sen. Jim Oberweis in the 14th Congressional District.
The Associated Press projects Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) has been re-elected. A tally from The Illinoize Thursday showed Underwood with a 4,288 vote lead over State Senator Jim Oberweis in the 14th Congressional District, covering a suburban, exurban, and rural area stretching from the Wisconsin line to nearly Joliet.
UPDATE 7:29 P.M.
Lake County updated its results Thursday, increasing Underwood’s lead to 4,604.
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Underwood celebrated her victory in a video on Facebook Thursday.
It’s unclear how many ballots remain uncounted in the district, though late arriving mail-in ballots have favored Underwood so far.
It appears, though, Oberweis won’t concede the race before at least taking the first step in a recount.
“The Associated Press calling the race in the 14th Congressional District for Lauren Underwood does not change anything in this race from a legal standpoint,” said Oberweis spokesman Travis Akin. “Illinois election law has provisions to allow parties in a closely contested race to seek a recount to ensure that all legal votes are counted and to ensure that the final outcome is the right outcome. There are still votes that have yet to be counted. The totals at this point are unofficial totals as the race has yet to be certified. We are committed to exploring all of the legal options at our disposal and will pursue these options that are afforded our campaign under law.”
The first step would be a discovery recount, where Oberweis could request 10% of precincts to recount the race and any evidence of changes or mistakes could be used as evidence to ask a judge for a full recount in the 7-county jurisdiction.
We won’t know the final results of the race until next Tuesday.
