Krishnamoorthi declared winner in 8th District reelection bid

Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg overcame a challenge from first-time Republican candidate Mark Rice of Chicago in his bid for a fifth term, according to unofficial results late Tuesday.

AP declared Krishnamoorthi the winner at 8:35 p.m., when an estimated 72% of the vote had been counted.

By the time the count reached 91%, Krishnamoorthi was ahead 162,522 votes to 126,448 votes, unofficial results showed. That gave Krishnamoorthi about 56.2% of the total.

He expressed gratitude to voters for awarding him a “high-five” for a fifth return to Congress.

“Each time it’s always a challenge,” he said of the campaign. “This time we had a presidential race at the top of the ticket. This is a time of restlessness with the public as they confront multiple challenges.”

One of his hopes for Election Day was for Democrats to take back control of the steering wheel in the House, but the winner of the presidential race will also play a role in setting the agenda in Washington, he added.

But Krishnamoorthi believes he’s already demonstrated his bipartisan effectiveness in serving through both the Trump and Biden administrations.

“I think the American people want us to work together as Republicans and Democrats for their common challenges,” he said.

Though divided on many issues during their campaign, both 8th District candidates described bipartisan solutions as desirable and attainable.

Asked whether the bill of Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma that proposed a solution to the immigration issue on the southern border deserves a second shot, Krishnamoorthi said he would vote yes, while Rice replied that he would still reject it for being too partisan and allowing too many illegal entries into the U.S.

On the war in Ukraine, Rice said he is giving former President Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt in his claims that he can end the war quickly if elected to the White House again. But Krishnamoorthi said he disagrees strongly with any suggestion that America’s support of its allies is conditional. He added that he believes China’s leader Xi Jinping is watching the U.S. response in Ukraine as an indication of how it would react to an invasion of Taiwan.

The 8th District is roughly centered in Schaumburg and includes areas of northwest Cook, northeast DuPage and northeast Kane counties.