Dold declares victory in 10th District
Illinois' 10th Congressional District seat likely will remain in Republican hands for at least two more years.
Although all the votes hadn't been counted late Tuesday night, the GOP's Robert Dold claimed victory in a hard-fought and expensive suburban race.
At his campaign headquarters in Winnetka, Dold celebrated a victory over Democrat Dan Seals that mirrored GOP wins across the nation.
“What a great night,” Dold, a first-time candidate from Kenilworth, told the cheering crowd. “It's a great night for us, but a bad night for the big spenders in Washington, D.C.”
Seals refused to concede, however. With votes still waiting to be recorded in some Cook County precincts and early votes uncounted as well, the Democrat's campaign team still held out hope as Tuesday night turned into early Wednesday.
“We want to make sure every vote is counted,” Seals campaign spokesman Aviva Gibbs said.
As of 1:20 a.m., ballots in 506 of 511 precincts had been counted, and Dold was holding a narrow lead over Seals.
Dold had 107,528 votes, or 51 percent, unofficial results showed. Seals had 102,789 votes.
The 10th District includes parts of Cook and Lake counties. It stretches from Lake Michigan into the North and Northwest suburbs.
Seals, of Wilmette, was unsuccessful in campaigns for the same seat in 2006 and 2008. Both times he lost to Republican Mark Kirk of Highland Park, who gave up the House seat to run for the U.S. Senate, a post he won Tuesday.
Seals won handily Tuesday in Lake County, but Dold was winning in Cook. All of the unreported precincts were in Cook County.
Dold painted himself as a fiscal conservative and social moderate on the campaign trail.
Republicans have held the seat since 1980. Kirk's predecessor was Republican John Porter, who replaced Democrat Abner J. Mikva. Mikva had resigned in 1979, leaving the seat open.
The Dold-Seals showdown wasn't an easy race for either candidate. They attacked each other in person and in advertisements for their stances on abortion, Social Security, taxes, the health care reform plan and other issues.
The race was costly, too. As of late September, they'd raised nearly $5 million between them for TV ads, polling and other campaign needs.
Both candidates had help from outside forces. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paid for anti-Dold ads, while the National Republican Congressional Committee and a pro-GOP group called the American Action Network put anti-Seals spots on TV.