Crespo retains 44th District Seat

Democrat Fred Crespo celebrated Tuesday night after he appeared headed toward a convincing win to retain his 44th District House seat.

With about 95 percent of the vote counted, Crespo led GOP challenger Margaret "Peggy" Brothman with 20,140 votes, or almost 69 percent of the vote compared to Brothman's 9,116, in unofficial totals.

Crespo, 50, of Hoffman Estates, has held the seat for one two-year term. After leaving the Republican Party, he defeated longtime GOP incumbent Terry Parke in 2006. Crespo also spent a year as a Hoffman Estates village trustee. Tuesday, he said voters recognized his work in Springfield.

"I introduced and actually passed eight bills my freshman year. You're lucky if you pass two bills," he said.

Crespo was complimentary of Brothman, 54, also of Hoffman Estates. She's a Schaumburg Township Elementary School District 54 board member. She reasoned voters kept to party lines.

"It seems it was a Barack year," Brothman said Tuesday. "I think that was the determining factor in Illinois."

She and Crespo spent much of the campaign attempting to link each other with some of the more polarizing figures within the state party.

Brothman's camp sought to tie Crespo to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, while Crespo said Brothman would act as a puppet of Republican House Leader Tom Cross. The 44th District includes all or parts of Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Streamwood, Hanover Park, Bartlett and Elgin.