MOORE’S SUMMARY: Twelve of 36 seats on the Illinois Democratic State Central Committee were contested in Tuesday’s primary election. As expected House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch secured a spot on the committee, which serves as the governing body for the Democratic Party of Illinois. At the same time, embattled state Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, lost his race.
REMINDER: Democrats elect two DSCC members from each congressional district but they cannot be of the same gender. They all run on the same ballot, which basically means that some third place finishers ended up “winners.”
Here’s a full breakdown of the results, as calculated by Capitol News Illinois:
1ST: State Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago, defeated state Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, 24% to 17%. Senate candidate Christopher Swann secured about 10%. Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris, the only woman on the ballot, won about 49%.
4TH: State Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, who chairs the Democratic Party of Illinois, secured about 43% to Leticia “Letty” Garcia’s 38%. Chicago Ald. Michael Rodriguez secured 19% and will succeed U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia on the committee.
5TH: Former Senate President John Cullerton was reelected with about 31% of the vote to state Sen. Mark Walker’s 24%. State Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, the party’s nominee for comptroller, won 45%.
7TH: Welch will succeed U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Chicago, on the committee, winning 28% to Oak Park Township Supervisor Tim Thomas’ 10%. Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin was elected with 28%. She defeated Chicago Ald. Emma Mitts, who was appointed following the death of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough. Mitts won 24%, leaving her about 5,000 votes behind Conyears-Ervin, who lost her simultaneous congressional bid to state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, last week. Mary “May” Larry won 10%.
9TH: Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss easily defeated two opponents to secure a seat on the DSCC. Joining him will be state Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, who came in third to Biss in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston. Fine won about 29% of the vote versus Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita (19%) and Chicago Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (11%).
10TH: State Rep. Tracy Katz-Muhl, D-Northbrook, will succeed retired state Sen. Melinda Bush on the committee. She won 30% against state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, who secured 25%, and Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek at 21%. Incumbent Thomas Maillard was unopposed, winning 25% of the overall vote.
11TH: State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville, will serve on the central committee after winning 40% of the vote against state Rep. Anne Stava, D-Naperville. Incumbent Peter Janko will continue serving after winning 17% to DuPage County Forest Preserve District President Daniel Hebreard’s 12%.
14TH: It’s still a mystery as to why Benton was booted from the House Democratic caucus. He was unopposed in his primary for state representative. But in the one race he faced an opponent, he lost. Wheatland Township Supervisor Michael Crowner (25%) defeated Benton (23%) by just under 1,500 votes to secure a spot on the DSCC. Incumbent Christine Benson (51%) didn’t face an opponent.
16TH: McLean County Democratic Party Chair Patrick Cortesi (30%) defeated Stephenson County Democratic Party Vice Chair Kevin Lamm (26%) by about 2,000 votes. Appointed incumbent Kim Armstrong won about 44% of the vote.
The 17 members of the Republican State Central Committee are elected by precinct committeepeople at a party convention.
Brenden Moore is a politics and government reporter for Capitol News Illinois, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide.
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