Democrats keep control of Illinois House and Senate, but some races too close to call

Preliminary, unofficial election results show no seats in the state House or Senate have changed party hands, although a few races remained too close to call according to the Associated Press.

That means Democrats will maintain supermajorities in each chamber of the General Assembly even as President Donald Trump appears to have vastly outperformed his previous two showings in the state in 2016 and 2020.

As of early Wednesday, unofficial results showed Democrats were poised to likely keep their 78-40 supermajority in the Illinois House and their 40-19 control of the Senate, although a few races proved to be highly competitive.

That was true in the 52nd House district, where incumbent Republican Rep. Martin McLaughlin, of Barrington Hills, was leading Democratic challenger Maria Peterson, 51% to 49%, a margin of fewer than 1,000 votes.

And in the 47th House District, incumbent Republican Rep. Amy Grant, of Wheaton, was leading Democrat Jackie Williamson, 50.4% to 49.6%, a margin of just 500 votes.

Another uncalled race is in the 76 th District that includes parts of DeKalb, LaSalle and Bureau counties. Democrat Amy Briel led Republican Liz Bishop by less than 700 votes in the race to succeed retiring Democrat Lance Yednock.

The race was also too close to call for a pair of incumbents – 91st District Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, and 104th District Rep. Brandun Schweizer, R-Danville, in two central Illinois races.

In the 112th District in the Metro East area outside St. Louis, Democratic Rep. Katie Stuart, of Edwardsville, was leading Republican challenger Jay Keeven, also of Edwardsville, 54% to 46%.

That district was at the center of a debate during the spring legislative session when Democrats pushed through a bill to ban the practice of political parties “slating” candidates for a race after a primary election if no candidate from that party ran for the nomination.

That bill passed the General Assembly in May, even though candidates from both parties, including Keeven, were already actively gathering petition signatures to fill vacant ballot positions.

The Illinois Supreme Court eventually ruled that law couldn’t go into effect in 2024, allowing Keeven to remain on the ballot.