Scott Gryder leading in 14th Congressional District GOP race

After a contentious primary, Oswego's Scott Gryder was leading the five-way race for the Republican nomination in Illinois' 14th Congressional District late Tuesday.

With The Associated Press estimating 80% of votes counted, Gryder - the Kendall County Board chair - was ahead with about 13,783 votes, or nearly 31% of the total, unofficial results showed. He was followed by fellow Oswego resident James Marter's 10,785 votes, Rochelle resident Mike Koolidge's 9,183 votes, Manhattan resident Jack Lombardi's 6,278 votes and the 4,528 for Jaime Milton of Fox River Grove.

Those totals didn't include all the early, mailed or provisional ballots.

The winner will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville in the Nov. 8 general election.

Most of the GOP candidates relied on social media and interviews to promote their candidacies and take jabs at Democratic leaders - and each other. Lombardi and Marter were particularly aggressive, catering to the far-right, nationalist wing of the GOP with many of their posts and comments.

But Gryder stayed out of the mud and avoided the conspiracy theories being touted by some of his rivals and other Republicans.

"We tried to run a very positive campaign ... and keep it directed to the issues," Gryder said in a phone interview late Tuesday night.

People he met on the campaign trail care about rising costs, he said, not what he called "the white noise" being created by other candidates.

The 14th District encompasses parts of seven counties, including Kane and Will.