Crespo beats Juarez for second time in 44th District

Democratic state Rep. Fred Crespo again beat his Republican rival Ramiro Juarez Tuesday in their divisive race for the Illinois House 44th District seat, but by a much smaller margin than two years ago.

His margin of victory was about 9 percent with 52 of 55 precincts reporting, compared to 28 percent in the last election. According to unofficial vote totals, Crespo had 9,554 votes to Juarez' 7,996.

"I'm very impressed by the voters of the 44th District," Crespo said late Tuesday. "There's so much noise out there. I'd rather have the voting record speak for itself. They saw that. With all the negative campaigning, I think we saw they're smarter than that."

Both camps accused the other of waging a dirty campaign with misleading attack ads and robocalls.

Crespo's bid for a fifth term highlighted Juarez's relative inexperience and portrayed him as a conservative out of touch with the moderate-leaning district.

By contrast, Juarez, an elementary school teacher from Streamwood vying for his first political office, labeled Crespo a career politician.

One mailer that recently surfaced had both campaigns accusing the other of producing it. The ad showed what appeared to be a picture of Juarez pushing a lawn mower and calling him the "son of another illegal immigrant."

Crespo, along with supporters such as Attorney General Lisa Madigan, made robocalls this weekend saying the mailer was falsely attributed to his campaign.

Despite the rhetoric, the two candidates agreed on several issues. Both support letting the state's 2011 income tax increase expire, and both are in favor of raising the state's minimum wage.

The 44th district includes parts of Bartlett, Elgin, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Streamwood.