Incumbent Republicans look to keep state House seats

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House Dist. 61:

Incumbent JoAnn Osmond easily retained her 61st District state representative's seat when the polls closed late Tuesday night.

Osmond, a Republican from Antioch, successfully secured her fourth consecutive term in office over challenger Scott Pollak, a Democrat from Antioch.

With all 90 precincts reporting late Tuesday, unofficial totals showed Osmond with 16,680 votes to Pollak's 9,243.

Osmond's campaign focused on creating and retaining jobs in Illinois. She has said the district is in need of job growth and to retain companies in an Illinois district that often loses business and customers to Wisconsin.

Pollak, a small-business owner in his first campaign, was looking to attract manufacturing jobs to help support renewable energy.

Osmond was appointed to the District 61 seat after her husband, Tim, died. She has won since her first campaign in 2002. The district includes Antioch, Fox Lake, Winthrop Harbor and Zion as well as portions of Lake Villa, Lindenhurst and Old Mill Creek.

House Dist. 62:

In the race for the 62nd state House seat, Republican Sandy Cole cruised to a third term, defeating Democratic challenger Rich Voltair.

With all 83 precincts counted, unofficial results showed Cole, of Grayslake, earned 15,838 votes. Voltair, of Round Lake Beach, had 7,939 votes.

During the campaign, Voltair had blasted Cole for accepting campaign contributions from banking and mortgage companies, but the attacks seemingly weren't enough for voters to go his way. Voltair had no support from state party leaders, a disadvantage he acknowledged.

Cole, a former Lake County Board member, never stooped to negative campaigning in the district that includes all or part of Gurnee, Grayslake, Third Lake, Round Lake Heights, Round Lake Beach, Lake Villa and Lindenhurst.

House Dist. 51:

In the 51st District, incumbent state Rep. Ed Sullivan easily defeated Democratic challenger Steve Riess and will serve a fifth term in Springfield.

Sullivan, 41, a Mundelein resident, easily outdistanced Riess, 57, a Hawthorn Woods village trustee.

With all 88 Lake County precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Sullivan with 19,651 votes to 8,764 votes for Riess. Riess carried the two precincts in Cook County 147 to 101 votes, according to unofficial totals.

The low-key campaign was absent the big money and fireworks of other state races. Both candidates said controlling spending would be the priority, and they agreed that meaningful changes involve the cooperation of lawmakers of the opposing party. The district includes all or sections of Deer Park, Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer, Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Long Grove, Mundelein and Round Lake Park.