Morrison wins in 54th House race; Flamm concedes

The Republicans will keep 54th District State Rep. Suzie Bassi's seat in the House.

GOP candidate Tom Morrison, who beat Bassi in the primary, said he received a phone call from Democratic challenger Matt Flamm conceding the race shortly before 9 p.m.

“He just thanked me for running a nice, clean race and said I just ran a great campaign,” Morrison said from his campaign headquarters in Palatine.

Morrison said his first order of business will be to address state pensions and hailed it as the state's greatest budget problem.

“I think the 54th District was crying for a stronger leadership down in Springfield,” Morrison said. “Just a desperate plea and demand for greater fiscal accountability.”

Flamm, whose campaign supporters gathered in Palatine, could not be immediately reached.

Morrison, 35, who owns two disaster cleanup franchises, described himself as a conservative, and took a position to the right of Bassi on social issues in the primary. Flamm, 57, described himself as a social moderate and fiscal conservative. He's a business and real estate attorney. Both live in Palatine.

With 94 percent of the vote counted, Morrison was leading by a ratio of almost two-to-one. He had received 18,193 or 63 percent of the votes. Flamm garnered 11,142 or 37 percent of the votes. Results are unofficial.

In the days leading up to the election, Flamm's campaign released a barrage of mailers that cautioned voters of Morrison's “extreme radical agenda” on schools, abortion, stem cell research and gay rights.

Morrison disputed the accuracy of some of Flamm's claims, namely that he opposes stem cell research and abortion in all cases. Morrison said he supports research using adult stem cells and would allow abortion if the mother's life is at risk.

Some of the mailers also featured the image of Bassi, who was defeated by Morrison in the GOP primary after she served six terms. The flier stated thousands of her supporters are supporting Flamm. Bassi says she never endorsed or worked on behalf of either candidate, and wasn't consulted about the ads.

The 54th District includes portions of Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Inverness, Hoffman Estates, Arlington Heights and Barrington.