Democrat Karina Villa likely victor in Senate District 25 race

The Senate District 25 race that was too close to call Tuesday seemingly has been decided in favor of Democrat Karina Villa, of West Chicago, with all precincts in Cook, DuPage, Kane, and Kendall counties now reporting.

Villa garnered 57,287 votes while Republican Jeanette Ward received 56,139, unofficial tallies show. Ward hasn't conceded the race.

Roughly 305,312 mail-in ballots are yet to be counted in the suburbs and it's unclear how that might swing this election.

"We are standing on solid ground but we aren't singing victory yet," said Villa Wednesday. "This has been a tough race for both parties, whomever wins will have to work every day to gain the trust of constituents who didn't vote for them."

The current state representative for the 49th House District, Villa said the rising cost of living, health care, medication, property taxes and lack of low-income housing are the top concerns for District 25 constituents. As a former social worker and West Chicago District 33 school board member, Villa supports more equitable school funding to help the state keep taxes down.

Ward, of West Chicago, previously served a term on the Elgin Area School District U-46 school board and lost a reelection bid in 2019. She said voters are most concerned about corruption in Springfield, pointing to "sorely needed" ethics reform in light of the recent ComEd bribery scandal.

The 25th District includes portions of Aurora, Bartlett, Batavia, Campton Hills, Elburn, Geneva, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora, Oswego, Plano, South Elgin, St. Charles, Sugar Grove, Warrenville, Wayne, West Chicago and Yorkville.