Election Recap

Voters returned Gov. JB Pritzker to office, sent Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton to the U.S. Senate and elected Sheriff Paula Crouch to her first full term in Tuesday’s general election, according to unofficial results.

Pritzker, a Democrat first elected in 2018, won a third term by defeating Republican Darren Bailey for the second time. Pritzker defeated Bailey by about 12 points in 2022. Bailey, a farmer and former state senator from Clay County, lost the 2024 Republican primary in the 12th Congressional District to U.S. Rep. Mike Bost before entering this year’s race for governor, and he won the March primary with about 53 percent of the vote against three challengers. Pritzker ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Former Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell, who replaced Stratton as Pritzker’s running mate, will serve as lieutenant governor. Bailey’s running mate was Cook County Republican Party Chairman Aaron Del Mar. Pritzker campaigned on affordability and public safety, while Bailey focused on high taxes, the state’s economy and a plan to cut government spending.

Stratton will succeed Dick Durbin, who retires from the Senate after holding the seat since 1997, making her the first new senator to hold it in nearly three decades. She defeated Republican Don Tracy, a Springfield attorney. Stratton has served as lieutenant governor under Pritzker since 2019 and won the Democratic nomination in March with the governor’s backing, defeating two sitting members of Congress. Tracy, senior counsel at the Springfield law firm Brown, Hay & Stephens, led the Illinois Republican Party from 2021 to 2024 and previously chaired the Illinois Gaming Board. He campaigned on lowering the cost of living for working families.

Locally, Crouch, a Republican, defeated Democrat Marc Bell with 53.89 percent of the vote to Bell’s 46.11 percent and becomes the first woman elected sheriff in Sangamon County. The county board appointed her on Sept. 18, 2024, after the retirement of former Sheriff Jack Campbell, selecting her from 15 applicants following a review by an independent committee. Over the past two years, every deputy in the office has completed de-escalation training at the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center in Decatur through a grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Crouch has also moved more training to in-person instruction, arranged joint training with Springfield police, updated taser training for jail staff and started a wellness program for deputies and correctional officers. Background checks for new hires now include visits by investigators to applicants’ previous departments. During the campaign, Crouch said she wanted to raise pay for deputies and correctional officers, increase the presence of deputies in schools and neighborhoods and work with local health care providers to improve mental health services for inmates and staff.

Crouch, who was endorsed by former Sheriff Neil Williamson and State’s Attorney John Milhiser, has worked in public safety for nearly 30 years. She began as a Sangamon County 911 dispatcher, joined the Springfield Police Department in 1999 and retired as a lieutenant in 2023, then served as chief deputy of administration for the Sangamon County Circuit Clerk’s Office until her appointment. A graduate of Auburn High School, she lives in rural Williams Township with her husband and two children.

Bell, 62, is a retired Illinois State Police master sergeant who served on the Illinois Gaming Board and sits on the City of Springfield’s Police Community Review Commission. He ended his campaign in February, citing a lack of financial support from the Sangamon County Democratic Party, but reentered the race after receiving nearly 12,000 votes as the only Democrat on the March primary ballot. In July, he was endorsed by David Timm, the retired sheriff’s deputy who lost to Crouch in the Republican primary.

The sheriff’s office employs more than 200 people, including staff at the county jail, and operates on an annual budget of about $25.5 million. A Democrat has not been elected sheriff in Sangamon County since 1974.

In the 48th State Senate District, which covers parts of Sangamon, Christian and Macon counties, Democratic Sen. Doris Turner of Springfield won reelection over Republican Frank Lesko. Turner has represented the district since 2021. Lesko is the Sangamon County Recorder and previously served as Springfield city clerk and as a Springfield alderman.

On the Sangamon County Board, Republican Richard King defeated Democrat Tara Bergschneider in District 7 and will take the seat currently held by Craig Hall. In District 12, incumbent Democrat Sheila Feipel won reelection over Republican Joel Oschwald, and in District 21, incumbent Democrat Reggie Guyton won reelection over Republican Connie Sebok. Both were special elections for two-year terms. In District 23, incumbent Democrat Tony DelGiorno won reelection over write-in candidate Patricia Hayes.

All results remain unofficial until the remaining vote-by-mail and provisional ballots are counted and the Sangamon County Clerk’s Office certifies the totals.