Underwood Takes Small Lead on Oberweis, Potentially Thousands of Ballots Remain
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) has taken a slim lead over Republican Jim Oberweis in the 14th Congressional District race.
Freshman Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) has overtaken State Senator Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) with potentially thousands of ballots left to be counted in the west suburban, exurban, and rural 14th Congressional District.
Underwood took the lead over the weekend, and with ballots reported by the Lake County Clerk late Sunday night, she holds a 1,137-vote lead over Oberweis out of about 384,000 counted so far. (You can keep up with our tracker of all of closely contested results HERE.) Potentially thousands of late-arriving our uncounted ballots could still be outstanding in the 7-county district from the Wisconsin state line to near Joliet.
Numerous disparities in results from national and state media alike left numerous questions among voters, and potentially the campaigns, about the results over the weekend. As of Monday afternoon, the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, and The Illinoize all concur on current tallies.
Oberweis campaign spokesman Travis Akin says they are confident that even though numbers will fluctuate, they will come in out the Republican’s favor.
“We have poll watchers at every County Clerks' office in the district. We are monitoring this process and we remain optimistic about the outcome of this race," Akin said.
Underwood’s campaign believes its lead will hold.
“We remain confident that once the outstanding ballots are counted, Congresswoman Underwood will be reelected,” an Underwood spokeswoman told The Illinoize.