Democrat Franks re-elected in 63rd Dist.

Despite a Republican surge on Election Day, incumbent Democrat Jack Franks handily held onto his seat in the 63rd District state House race, according to unofficial vote tallies Tuesday night.

With 100 percent of precincts counted, Franks had 64 percent of the vote, compared to Republican John O'Neill's 36 percent. Those results do not include provisional, late absentee ballots and write-in votes.

Franks said his win was evidence that voters in McHenry County, despite their conservative leanings, pick their representatives based on the issues and their record not party label.

“It would have been easy to dismiss me simply because of the (party) label,” Franks said. “They look past party labels. Instead they focus on results and support people who support them.”

O'Neill said he was disappointed and surprised by the results but has learned from the campaign experience, and might make another run for the seat.

“I'm not going away,” O'Neill said. “There are a lot of things I want to do. … I've been a die-hard Cub fan my whole life, so I'm used to saying, ‘maybe next time.'”

The race pitted Franks, a veteran Democratic lawmaker in a historically Republican county, against O'Neill, a GOP challenger looking to capitalize on voter mistrust of incumbent Democrats. The 63rd District includes Woodstock, Wonder Lake, Spring Grove and parts of McHenry and Crystal Lake. During the campaign, Franks, who has who has served in the House since 1999, touted his independence from the Democratic Party and pointed to audits he championed to uncover alleged abuses of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

O'Neill, a library and school board member from McHenry, argued Franks didn't stand up to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.