Here's a short round-up of some of what happened in Illinois last night.
First, Democrats have a veto-proof majority in both the State house and State senate. In fact, Democrats hold 40 seats, for the first time ever for either party, so this is historic. Pat Quinn, the Democratic governor, wasn't up for re-election this year, and he has major policy differences with Democratic legislators.
This means that all of Illinois' problems, and there are many, are on our shoulders. Democrats have a lot of work to do with respect to our budget deficit and securing our public pensions.
On a side note, perennial candidate Jim Oberweis (R-Ice Cream) finally won a race! He's going to the Illinois Senate. (He's run for every state position on the ballot, I think.)
Also, we have pretty much turned DuPage County blue! Woo hoo! Big shout out to the hard-working Dems who have worked for years to make that happen! It will be the first time in history that a Democrat represents DuPage County in the state Senate.
And speaking of DuPage County, we upgraded our Congressional delegation big time last night! In my district, Bill Foster is sending Judy Biggert back home. Tammy Duckworth won over tea-bagger Joe Walsh. Brad Schneider narrowly beat Bob Dold, who practically acted as if he was Barack Obama's running mate.
Unfortunately, downstate saw David Gill fail to pull out a victory. Even though the seat was thought to be up for grabs due to redistricting and the surprise resignation of the incumbent, I always thought that was going to be a heavy lift.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. also kept his seat, despite his health issues and his absence from public view. This will be interesting to watch.
So, all in all, a good day in Illinois, and a good day for America.