Incumbent Democrat Bush leads Republican Kasperski in state Senate race

Democratic incumbent Melinda Bush appeared to hold off Republican challenger Christopher Kasperski in her bid to retain the 31st District state Senate seat, according to unofficial results.

The early results show Bush with 43,900 votes and Kasperski with 35,530.

Those tallies do not include mail-in ballots that have yet to arrive. Ballots postmarked by Tuesday will be counted if they arrive by Nov. 17.

Bush, of Grayslake, is seeking her third term in the Senate. She has praised Gov. J.B. Pritzker's COVID-19 response and said he was correct to enact measures to remediate the spread of the virus.

Kasperski, of Lindenhurst, is a retired Army engineer who was critical of Pritzker. He said the governor had overstepped his authority by prolonging emergency declarations, which he described as "abnormal and absurd."

The district includes most of the northern half of Lake County, including Antioch, Gurnee, Grayslake, Zion, the Round Lake area, parts of Wauconda and other towns.