Illinois Primary Rundown

Who won, who lost and who will face off in the general election

Tuesday night marked the end of an undoubtedly contentious primary season in Illinois. Here’s how it all went down:

GOP Presidential Primary: Mitt Romney: 47 percent; Rick Santorum: 35 percent; Ron Paul: 9 percent; Newt Gingrich: 8 percent.

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1st District: No surprise here—incumbent Rep. Bobby Rush, who has been in office for nearly 20 years, beat out five other Democrats for the nomination by a wide margin. He received 84 percent of the votes among Democrats, while the remainder received less than 5 percent each. Rush will face Republican Donald Peloquin in the general election.

2nd District: The hotly contested race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District ended tonight with former congresswoman Debbie Halvorson conceding to incumbent Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Jackson has been in office for 18 years and has been met with controversy surrounding his alleged involvement with the Blagojevich scandal. But that didn’t seem to deter voters. Jackson won 71 percent of the vote compared with Halvorson’s 29 percent. He will face Republican Brian Woodworth in the general election.

3rd District: Incumbent Rep. Daniel Lipinski won with 87 percent of the Democrat vote, and will face Republican Richard Grabowski in the general election.

4th District: Rep. Luis Gutierrez ran unopposed in the Democratic Party. There were no Republican challengers.

5th District: Incumbent Mike Quigley ran unopposed in the Democratic Party, and Dan Schmitt did the same in the Republican Party. They will face off in November’s general election.

6th District: Democrat Leslie Coolidge won 54 percent of the Democrat vote and will face incumbent Peter Roskam in the general election, who ran unopposed in the Republican Party.

7th District: Incumbent Danny Davis (D), who was first elected in 1996, received 84 percent of the vote, beating Jacques Conway. There were no Republican candidates.

8th District: Tammy Duckworth ultimately defeated Raja Krishnamoorthi—67 percent to 33 percent, respectively—in the hotly contested race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 8th District. Their goal: to beat Republican incumbent Joe Walsh of the Tea Party. Duckworth will try to do just that this November, when she faces Walsh in the general election.

9th District: Incumbent Jan Schakowsky, who was first elected in 1998, received 92 percent of the Democrat’s vote, beating her opponent Simon Riberio by a considerable margin. She will face Timothy Wolfe, who ran unopposed in the Republican Party, this November.

10th District: Progressive was the key word in the race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 10th District. Ultimately, voters chose someone who is considered more of a moderate Democrat: Brad Schneider. His main opponent, 25-year-old newcomer Ilya Sheyman, ultimately conceded to Schneider, who won 47 percent of the Democrat’s vote compared to Sheyman’s 39 percent. John Tree came in at 9 percent and Vivek Bavda at 6 percent. Schneider will go on to face Republican incumbent Robert Dold in the general election.

11th District: Republican Incumbent Judy Biggert initially had two opponents in the Republican Party. Then she was unopposed. Then one was reinstated, and then ultimately removed from the ballot yet again. After all that, Biggert remained safe and ultimately ran unopposed. She will face former 14th District Representative Bill Foster, who won 59 percent of the Democrat’s vote.

14th District: Republican incumbent Randy Hultgren was unopposed in the race. He will face Dennis Anderson, who won 74 percent of the Democrat's vote, in the general election.

16th District: In a battle between youth and experience in the 16th Congressional District, youth ultimately prevailed. The two Republican incumbents, freshman congressman Adam Kinzinger and veteran congressman Don Manzullo, both tout themselves as conservative. Yet, they consistently spit-fire as to who was the most conservative. With no Democrats in the race, Rep. Kinzinger will represent the 16th District. It was a relatively close race though—Kinzinger received 56 percent of the vote, compared with Manzullo’s 44 percent.  

Illinois Supreme Court Justice: Mary Jane Theis received 48 percent of the vote, and is Illinois’ newest Supreme Court Justice. She defeated Aurelia Pucinski’s name recognition, and controversy surrounding an endorsement from her neighbor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County: Dorothy Brown won a fourth term as Clerk of the Circuit Court, despite a long list of controversies surrounding her tenure. She defeated Alderman Rick Munoz, who received just 33 percent of the vote compared with Brown’s 67 percent.

Be sure to watch Chicago Tonight at 7:00 pm on Wednesday to hear from some of the candidates for Congress who will be facing each other in November’s general elections. Learn more about the candidates and their respective districts.

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