Stella says race isn't over for 11th District nomination

Nick Stella says the race for the Republican nomination in the 11th Congressional District isn't over yet, despite unofficial election results showing he lost to DuPage County Board member Tonia Khouri by 417 votes in Tuesday's primary.

The Darien cardiologist and Khouri were neck and neck as vote counts came in from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties and the Aurora Election Commission.

"What a nail-biter folks!" Stella posted on his campaign's Facebook page around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

For most of the night, both candidates held on to about 37 percent of vote. A third candidate, physicist Herman White of Naperville, accounted for the remaining 26 percent.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, unofficial results showed Khouri won the nomination with 344 more votes than Stella. That lead increased to 417 votes hours later, after the DuPage County Election Commission posted updated "dynamic results."

"However, this race has not been decided," Stella said in his Facebook post. "Last night we were up by a few hundred votes, this morning we're down a few hundred votes. But, by no means is this race over! We still have the provisional ballots to be counted in all five counties and that would include absentee and early votes."

Stella's campaign manager, George Pearson, said the race ultimately is "too close to call."

"It was an extremely close race," he said. "There are some concerns with how the numbers changed literally in the middle of the night."

Pearson said Stella was not willing to speak to the Daily Herald Wednesday, but he would make a statement once all provisional ballots are counted and certified.

"We want to make sure all the votes are counted," Pearson said, adding that it doesn't make sense to ask for a recount before provisional ballots are tallied.

Election commissions are expected to issue final, confirmed vote totals in about two to three weeks.

Pearson estimated there are about 3,000 provisional ballots that still need to be counted.

As of Wednesday afternoon, unofficial results on the election commissions' websites show Khouri winning in Aurora and DuPage, Kendall and Kane counties, with a total of 22,601 votes. Stella appears to have won in Cook and Will counties, with a total of 22,184 votes.

Although Khouri feels the numbers are accurate, she said she understands if Stella wants to ask for a recount.

"Mr. Stella has every right to do that, but we are confident that we'll win by an even greater margin," the Aurora resident said.

The Republican nominee will face incumbent Bill Foster in the November general election.

The 11th District covers parts of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties, including Aurora, Naperville, Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge and Joliet.