Illinois Election Results

The election are still streaming in. The governor's race on both sides is too close to call. On the Republican side, State Senator Bill Brady is in the lead with Kirk Dillard and Andy McKenna closely behind. Pat Quinn has a tiny lead over Dan Hynes on the Democratic side. Meanwhile, Alexi Giannoulias will face off against Mark Kirk for the Illinois Senate seat. As it stands now, this will be a total wipeout. Giannoulias just got pummeled by all the revelations about his family owned bank, Broadway Bank. He appears to be one of those scummy mortgage brokers that created the problem. He's a political insider with ties to the mob, Rezko, and the Illinois machine. That's not a place I'd like to be in November. Meanwhile, Mark Kirk is well known, a political moderate, and as such he'll dominate among independents.

In the Cook County Board President's race, it will be Roger Keats against current Chicago city council woman Toni Preckwinkle. Tony Peraica, a Cook County Commissioner, recently predicted that much of the Cook County Board would be replaced. So far, that hasn't happened. The only incumbent that's lost so far is Joseph Moreno. His brother was famously caught napping while employed by the city of Chicago in a local Fox broadcast. Meanwhile, Deborah Sims, who famously said that God told her to vote for a tax increase, won easily. William Beavers, who enjoys three local government pensions, won easily. Tim Schneider(15th district) recently sold a family golf course to the county is running unopposed. So far, the board isn't going to see all that much change.

In some random races, let's start with my own district, the 5th district. The Republicans fielded quantity if not quality. Adam Radowitz has come out the victor over Rosanna Pulido, who was the Republican representative in the special election. Meanwhile, the Green Party actually fielded three candidates in the primaries. At the same time, the winner, Matt Reichel, won with less than 200 votes. Of course, it's all current dramatics because both are likely to get crushed by Mike Quigley. Adam Kinzinger, a candidate I featured earlier, will be the Republican nominee of the 11th District in the U.S. House. Denny Hastert's son has lost in the 14th District.

Most importantly, the turnout was near 25% and so the biggest loser was the system itself. Voter apathy is chief among reasons for the corruption and waste in Illinois and the voters simply don't get that yet.