Democrat Villa holds slim lead over Republican Ward in Senate District 25 race
Early returns show Democrat Karina Villa with a narrow lead over Republican Jeanette Ward in the race for Illinois Senate District 25 with 100% of precincts reporting votes cast on Election Day.
Unofficial returns show Villa has 55,359 votes or 50% and Ward has 55,341 votes or 49.9%, with 18 votes separating the candidates. Those unofficial tallies also include early votes and many mail-in ballots.
Those early vote tallies do not include mail-in ballots that have yet to arrive.
The historically conservative district takes in some or all of Aurora, Bartlett, Batavia, Big Rock, Campton Hills, Elburn, Elgin, Geneva, Geneva, Lily Lake, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora, Oswego, Plano, Prestbury, South Elgin, St. Charles, Sugar Grove, Warrenville, Wayne, West Chicago, and Yorkville. The district encompasses DuPage, Kane and Kendall counties.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, 214,095 ballots were mailed to DuPage County voters who requested them and 50,504 have not been returned. In Kane County, 92,088 ballots were mailed to voters requesting them and 10,917 have not been returned. In Kendall County, 21,122 ballots were mailed to voters requesting them and 3,215 have not been returned.
Ballots postmarked by Tuesday will be counted if they arrive by Nov. 17.
The candidates, both of whom are from West Chicago, are vying for the seat formerly held by Republican Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove who challenged incumbent Democrat Lauren Underwood of Naperville in the race for the 14th Congressional District.
All results are unofficial.
Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.