Evans takes GOP primary for 11th U.S. House seat

Music-school owner Jerry Evans of Warrenville won the three-way race for the Republican nomination in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, The Associated Press projected.

With about 84% of ballots counted, Evans had 17,381 votes, or nearly 51% of the total, unofficial results showed. He was followed by Geneva’s Susan Hathaway Altman, who had 12,705 votes, and Bartlett’s Kent Mercado, who had 4,168 votes.

While Evans and Hathaway-Altman unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for the seat in 2022, this was Mercado’s first political campaign. Mercado ran as a more moderate alternative to Evans and Hathaway-Altman, the latter of whom downplayed the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and called for many facing charges from that day to be released.

Evans will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville in the Nov. 5 general election. Foster won a primary showdown Tuesday also, according to AP projections.

The 11th District includes portions of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties.