Kifowit declares victory over Strick in race for third term in Illinois House

State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, a Democrat from Aurora, declared victory in her race for a third term in the Illinois House.

"I'm a good legislator. I'm a proven independent voter. I'm accessible to my constituents and I work very hard," Kifowit said late Tuesday. "Ultimately, we ran our race and it turned out successfully, as we expected it to. All along our polls were showing a 60-40 split."

Kifowit said she doesn't believe there was any "presidential play" in the race and she hadn't been expecting any.

With a majority precincts reporting across DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties, Kifowit leads Naperville small business owner Mike Strick, the Republican, with about 60 percent of the vote in the unofficial returns.

Kifowit had campaigned on a pledged to be an independent not beholden to Speaker Michael Madigan. She had been one of seven dissenting Democrats who voted against Madigan's most recent $7 billion budget proposal.

She said she'll continue to vote for the best interest of her the 84th House District.

Kifowit pledged to push support for a two-year state budget along with an undisclosed list of funding priorities and goals.

In 2014 Kifowit won re-election Tuesday against Republican Krishna Bansal by claiming 58 percent of the vote. In 2012 Kifowit defeated Republican Pat Fee with 62 percent of the vote.

The 84th House District includes large portions of Naperville, Aurora, Oswego, Montgomery and a portion of Boulder Hill.