Voter turnout in Sangamon County reached just over 70% on Tuesday, with former President Donald Trump carrying the county by a margin of 5,000 votes. Local races saw strong support for incumbents across both parties, and two races remain too close to call with many outstanding mail-in ballots.
State's Attorney John Milhiser and Circuit Clerk Joe Roesch, both Republicans, won comfortably against their Democratic opponents, Kimberly Talken and Juwanda Burrage. However, the Recorder’s race between Democrat Josh Langfelder and Republican Frank Lesko remains undecided. Lesko currently leads Langfelder by 68 votes, but the outcome could shift as mail-in and provisional ballots are counted. Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray reported that more than 3,500 mail-in ballots and an unspecified number of provisional ballots are still outstanding, with any valid ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted through Nov. 19.
Lesko, Springfield’s City Clerk, supports merging the Recorder’s office with the County Clerk’s to save taxpayer money. Langfelder, who has served as Recorder since 2008, opposes the proposal, emphasizing the office’s specialized role in managing property records.
All seven incumbent Sangamon County Board members in contested races were re-elected. In District 25, Jennifer Ghesquiere Deaner narrowly defeated Jennifer Merritt on election day by nine votes, with third-party candidate Russ Clark trailing. Marc Ayers, a Democrat, won re-election to the county board, defeating challenger Colleen Lucas Cavanagh by four percentage points. In other county board races, incumbents Tom Madonia Jr., Greg Stumpf, Justin Davsko, and Abe Forsyth achieved strong wins, with Davsko retaining his seat for an unexpired two-year term. In a rematch from 2022, Board Chairman Andy Van Meter defeated Maureen Duffy Bommarito by just over four percentage points.
Auditor Andy Goleman and Coroner Jim Allmon were re-elected unopposed, along with eight other uncontested county board seats.
State Representatives Republican Mike Coffey and Democrat Sue Scherer were re-elected to the Illinois House, while U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski won a second term, defeating Republican challenger Josh Loyd.