THE ILLINOIZE: 4ish races still out...including Underwood/Oberweis...Multiple concessions...A slow count...Is Madigan in trouble?...McConchie's vision for Senate GOP...Our first roundtable discussion
THE ILLINOIZE: 4ish races still out...including Underwood/Oberweis...Multiple concessions...A slow count...Is Madigan in trouble?...McConchie's vision for Senate GOP...Our first roundtable discussion
November 10, 2020
E-DAY +7
Happy Tuesday. There is still one undecided Congressional race. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) has a slim 1,147 vote lead over State Senator Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) after some more Kane County ballots came in yesterday. More on that below.
Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) has the closest legislative race at this point. As of Monday night he leads Democrat Dave Vella by 315 votes.
Rep. Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville) trails Republican Chris Bos by around 3,000 votes. It’s unclear how many ballots are left in this heavily Lake County-centered district.
Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) hasn’t seen new votes in Kendall or Will County since early Wednesday. We expect some new votes dropped in Will County by Wednesday, so we could get clarity on that race soon. Batinick currently leads Democrat Harry Benton by around 2,800 votes.
You can keep up with the latest numbers in all of the hottest races by keeping our Race Tracker up on your browser.
THE LATEST
Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) has conceded to Democrat Janet Yang-Rohr.
Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) conceded to Democrat Suzanne Ness as classily as ever.
Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Alton) conceded to Republican Amy Elik.
Rep. Nathan Reitz (D-Steelville) conceded to David Friess.
Ken Mejia-Beal has conceded to Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton).
Democrat Jennifer Zordani has conceded to Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst).
Republican Peter Breen conceded (kind of) while trashing Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the process.
Republican Jeanette Ward has conceded to Rep. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) in the race for Sen. Jim Oberweis’ west suburban and exurban seat.
Republican Mary Burress tells us she called Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) to concede.
Democrat Marci Suelzer confirmed her loss, though didn’t really concede, and whacked Republican Marty McLaughlin, in the race to replace Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills).
Republican Scott Kegarise has admitted defeat to Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg).
Democrat Brian Sager “accepted defeat” in his challenge to Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock).
Democrat Martha Paschke conceded to Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Batavia).
Republican Laura Hois conceded to Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) on Friday.
Lisa Ciampoli conceded to Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville).
ITS ALWAYS INTERESTING…to see who is gracious in defeat and who is throwing grenades on the way out.
For the record…concessions don’t necessarily mean a race is over. It just means the losing candidate believes there aren’t enough votes to overtake the leader. It’s also an informal agreement that a trailing candidate won’t drag out a race with needless recounts and drama (where have we heard that before?)
Now, say for instance, Rep. Wehrli’s race tightens up with a big stack of Will County ballots that come in heavily Republican. He can always withdraw his concession, but if he pulls ahead, the concession doesn’t mean anything.
A concession is a formality.
IS UNDERWOOD SAFE?
We’ll likely know a lot more by the end of the day today if Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) will overcome a tough challenge from State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove).
As of yesterday afternoon, Underwood had jumped to a 1,147 vote lead over Oberweis out of about 384,000 counted so far. Underwood’s folks would tell you with all of the votes left to count in Lake County, she should be fine. Oberweis’ team is also confident, hoping they can roll on if more votes come in from heavily Republican McHenry County.
COUNTING IS TAKING FOREVER
I feel like the kid in the back of the station wagon shouting “Mom, are we there yet!?” when you’re 10 minutes into the drive and your little brother is already annoying the heck out of you.
Watching counts come in past 2:00 and 3:00 A.M. in the days following the election from counties that could decide the presidency got me asking “why aren’t we getting more results from counties in these contested races?”
Many counties haven’t posted anything since last Tuesday, while some jurisdictions continue to file occasional updates.
McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio says his office may update results on Tuesday but may not before the 17th. Will County Clerk Lauren Staley-Ferry says she was discussing with staff Monday whether to issue a set of results before November 17.
In the case of Rep. John Cabello’s (R-Machesney Park) razor-thin race, the Rockford Board of Elections told the Rockford Register-Star results will be updated periodically. Winnebago County Clerk Lori Gummow says she doesn’t plan to update results until November 17th, leaving both campaigns completely in the dark for another week.
Lake County Clerk Robin O’Connor originally said her office would only publish updated results on November 10th and 17th, but has been gradually updating results over the weekend, including late Sunday night.
Cabello had no issues with the delay, telling me via text last night “they have a tough job to do.”
Others, like Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville), think its a bad time for election authorities to lack transparency.
“I try to believe as much as I can in a fair and open election process here, but the delays certainly aren’t helping,” Wehrli said.
Wehrli has already conceded his race.
MADIGAN’S SHRINKING MAJORITY
If result stay exactly where they are right now, Democrats will lose two seats in the Illinois House in 2021.
That would put the House Democrat majority at 72-46. To get elected Speaker, one needs 60 votes. An shoo-in for Speaker Michael Madigan’s re-election, right?
Not so fast.
This weekend Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) became the 8th House Democrat to say he won’t be voting for Madigan as Speaker. Madigan can “lose” 11 Democrats and already has a challenger in Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego.)
It’s been a year of bad news cycles for the powerful Speaker. Complaints about how his office handled sexual harassment claims, being under investigation by the feds for his role in a ComEd bribery scheme, not to mention losing seats in what was expected to be another “blue wave” as he was the butt of every GOP campaign ad.
McCONCHIE TALKS PRIORITIES
After securing a takeover of the Senate Republican caucus last week, incoming Senate GOP Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) is talking to The Illinoize about his priorities.
We spoke with McConchie by phone for about 20 minutes yesterday. McConchie says Republicans in the Senate didn’t take advantage of frustrations over the graduated income tax.
“People overwhelmingly said no to [the graduated income tax,] and we know why people did. They did it because they did not trust Springfield with broader powers to reach into our pockets and continue to take more money out of them. So, what we have to do at this point is connect with those people. We need to get out and connect the Republican brand here in Illinois to the reason why people do not trust Springfield. I don’t know that was effectively done this cycle,” he said.
Read our full Q&A with Sen. McConchie here.
WELCOME TO THE (VIRTUAL) ROUNDTABLE
In a feature we hope to do more over the next few months, I sat down (over Zoom, not spewing any germs and viruses at each other) with former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady and radio host and former State Representative candidate Patti Vasquez. I enjoyed it, and it was a good reminder that people with divergent political beliefs can have a conversation that doesn’t devolve into cable news screaming and shouting.
Here’s the video:
(if this isn’t working on your browser, click here.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Happy Birthday yesterday to former Congressman Michael Flanagan, the guy who has the distinction in Illinois history of beating indicted Congressman Dan Rostenkowski and losing two years later to Rod Blagojevich. Former State Rep. Rich Morthland celebrates today. And Happy Birthday tomorrow to one of my all-time favorite political figures, former Rep. Bill Black of Danville. He’s a great and thoughtful man and has been kind to me from the days his district office in Watseka was next door to the law firm my grandmother worked at. Happy Birthday, Bill Black!
ONE LAST THING
The Salvation Army is putting out the famed red kettles earlier than ever this year due to the dramatic increase in need around Illinois. The Salvation Army in Chicago, known as the “Metropolitan Division) that stretches from Rockford to northwest Indiana, is seeing a fivefold increase for services during the pandemic.
They do amazing work. They’re feeding people. They’re helping people pay rent and keep the lights on. They’re battling human trafficking. It’s remarkable.
I’ve joined up with a few people of actual importance, unlike me, to host a virtual Red Kettle this fall.
As always, we’re going to keep pushing stories out throughout the week. Keep checking up on www.theillinoize.com.
You can also like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and share our newsletter with the button below. And, if you have any questions, tips, dirt, thoughts, complaints, or snark, drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com.
Have a great week.