More than 12 hours after the polls closed in the Land of Lincoln, Illinois voters now know for certain the match-up that awaits them in the race to replace Barack Obama (or, more technically, Roland Burris) in the U.S. Senate, with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias facing off against Republican Mark Kirk.
The governor's race, on the other hand, is infinitely more complicated.
Illinois Primary Results, Governor--Dem, 99.1% Precincts Reporting
Governor Pat Quinn (D) 50.4
State Comptroller Dan Hynes (D) 49.6
Vote Margin 7202
That is correct. With nearly 900,000 votes counted, only a shade over 7000 votes separates incumbent Governor Pat Quinn from his Democratic rival, Dan Hynes. In Quinn's favor, beyond his small lead, is the fact the remaining precincts (with the exception of one in St. Clair County outside of St. Louis) are in Cook County, where he has enjoyed a slight edge.
Meanwhile, the Republican primary makes the tight Democratic gubernatorial primary look like a total blowout:
Illinois Primary Results, Governor--GOP, 99.1% Precincts Reporting
State Senator Bill Brady (R) 20.3
State Senator Kirk Dillard (R) 20.2
Former Party Chairman Andy McKenna (R) 19.3
Former Attorney General Jim Ryan (R) 17.0
Vote Margin 503
Out of three-quarters of a million votes, the margin is 503. And we may well see a lead change in our future, as Dillard did much better than Brady in Cook County, a county where Brady only scored about 5% of the vote. Dillard expressed confidence that he'd emerge victorious when all the precincts came in.
In the aforementioned Senate primaries, the favorites emerged as the nominees, though the Democratic battle proved to be awfully close. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias wound up scoring a five-point win over former Chicago Chief Inspector David Hoffman (39-34), with Chicago Urban League president Cheryle Robinson Jackson a distant third at 20% of the vote. On the GOP side, Mark Kirk badly underperformed, considering his vast financial advantages. He emerged the clear winner, though, as the anti-Kirk vote split several ways. Kirk won with 57% of the vote, while Patrick Hughes ran well behind with 19%.
Downballot, the story of the night was the rejection of legacy politics by the voters in the Aurora-based 14th district. Ethan Hastert, the son of the former House speaker, was upset by state Senator Randy Hultgren by ten points (55-45). In the open-seat 10th district, Dan Seals survived an incredibly tough challenge from state legislator Julie Hamos and wound up winning by just under 1000 votes. On the Republican side, state legislator Elizabeth Coulson, who was cut in the moderate mold that has typically sold well in this suburban swing district, was beat by conservative businessman Bob Dold, who trumpeted endorsements from Senator Dick Lugar and former VP Dan Quayle. In other races there were on the radar yesterday, both incumbent Democrat Danny Davis (IL-07) and Republican upstart Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) scored easy wins with 67% and 63% of the vote, respectively. In a wide-open primary in a one-time swing district, Republican and tea party advocate Joe Walsh won a multi-candidate primary with 35% of the vote to win the right to take on Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th district. Walsh's big media splash during the primary was raising the ire of the infinitely more well-known singer of the same name, over the unauthorized use of an old Walsh song for a candidate campaign video.
With one (and possibly both) primaries in the gubernatorial race headed to recount, the general election in Illinois will have to wait for a little bit. On balance, not a big deal, since the general election in Illinois is an almost absurd nine months in length.