Krishnamoorthi concedes comptroller race to Miller

How quickly numbers change.

Early Wednesday with 97 percent of precincts counted, The Associated Press reported that fewer than 700 votes separated Evanston native David Miller, a state representative now of Lynwood, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Hoffman Estates attorney, in the race for state comptroller.

A few hours and a few more precincts later, those numbers had changed. By midafternoon, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, that gap had ballooned to more than 6,200 with Miller leading with 386,641 votes, or 46.6 percent, to Krishnamoorthi's 379,718 votes, or 45.8 percent. Clinton "Clint" Krislov, a Wilmette tax attorney, received 63,167 votes, or 7.6 percent.

Wednesday evening, Krishnamoorthi issued an e-mail to his supporters informing them he had called Miller to congratulate him on becoming the Democratic nominee.

"This is not the outcome we had hoped for, and we all wish last night and today would have included a victory celebration. Indeed, we came within a whisker of winning." he wrote in the e-mail. "While I did not finish first in the polls, we did shape the debate on what the office of Comptroller should be - the taxpayers' watchdog."

Miller already knew well what it's like to wait for election results.

"I've been here before," said Miller, who won his seat in the General Assembly 10 years ago by just 29 votes following a recount.

Earlier Wednesday, Miller had expressed confidence that he would prevail but declined to claim victory until all the votes are counted.

"Raja is a tough opponent. He did a great job," said Miller, who attributed his own success to an ability to "build bridges across racial and geographical boundaries."

• Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.