Noland leads Rauschenberger in 22nd Senate race

The close and expensive race for 22nd state Senate came down to the wire Tuesday, with incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Noland leading by a razor-thin margin.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Noland of Elgin held a 557-vote lead over Republican Steven Rauschenberger in the race for a four-year term. Just two precincts were left to count.

Though trailing, Rauschenberger said late Tuesday he didn't want to concede, instead wanting to wait for all precincts to report and all absentee ballots to be counted.

The campaign to represent the Fox Valley district was one of the most expensive on the state legislative level with the candidates together raising more than $1.5 million, according to totals from the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Economic issues, as well personal past issues, largely dominated the heated campaign.

“It's very heartening to know that this race was about the issues,” Noland said.

Noland repeatedly reiterated his support for legislation that would raise the income tax rate for individuals, trusts and estates and the corporate income tax rate, doubling the individual property tax credit in return.

He says the plan would raise about $7 billion in new revenue over time and would reduce the state's “over-reliance on property taxes.”

Rauschenberger opposed an income tax increase, saying one is “not appropriate during the worst recession in modern history.”

Instead, he said the state will realize more income tax receipts from supporting “job-friendly changes to (Illinois) policies and politics.”

Rauschenberger received criticism for Noland over his conservative social beliefs, opposing both gay marriages and civil unions. Rauschenberger at one point described gay marriages as “abnormal,” but later apologized.

Noland, an attorney, also came under fire from his opponent over his wife's hire to the Hanover Township Mental Health board following his sponsorship of 2007 legislation, which he described only as a coincidence.

He was also criticized for a comment that Gov. Pat Quinn's veto of a school funding bill designed to help Elgin Area School District U-46, a bill which he sponsored, was a “calculated political decision.”

Rauschenberger held the seat from 1992 to 2006, before leaving to run for Republican lieutenant governor, a bid which he lost.

The 22nd district stretches across the Fox Valley, encompassing Elgin and Streamwood, and parts of Carpentersville, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Hanover Park.