Moylan leads Smolenski in 55th District

Des Plaines Democratic state Rep. Marty Moylan holds a solid lead over GOP challenger Marilyn Smolenski of Park Ridge in their race for the 55th state House District.

With 87 percent of precincts reporting, Moylan's 16,845 votes give him 55.2 percent of the total to Smolenski's 13,673.

Both Moylan and Smolenski spoke of their respective bipartisan appeal to voters while strongly questioning that of the other.

Smolenski said her independence from both Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner was part of that appeal. She described herself as a means to ending Madigan's decadeslong leadership of the state House.

But Moylan argued Smolenski has the backing of conservative voices uncharacteristic of the 55th District's residents. While he acknowledged receiving financial support from the Democratic Party, he said the GOP was not supporting Smolenski because her views were too extreme.