Incumbent Congressman Sean Casten was locked in a virtual tie with Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau in a race for a south suburban congressional seat that at one point had been considered a safe district for Democrats.
The 6th Congressional District became a top battleground as Democrats faced difficult odds to retain control of the U.S. House, with Casten welcoming President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the closing days of the campaign.
The district, which Biden carried by more than 10 points two years ago, was redrawn by the Democratic-controlled state legislature to favor the party. But with just 41.1% of precincts reporting, Republican Pekau led Democrat Casten by about 1,600 votes out of nearly 100,000 cast.
Casten, who won his first term in the Democratic wave in 2018, was new to roughly 70% percent of voters in the newly drawn 6th District. By mid-evening, he had yet to appear at his campaign’s election night party at a union hall in Burr Ridge, but his supporters cheered when video of the candidate played on news reports showing him in a dead heat with Pekau.
Pekau gained national attention with his criticism of Illinois’ criminal justice reforms and COVID-19 restrictions at Orland Park board meetings, which were featured on Fox News. The Republican also got a boost from the national party with a visit last week from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and a $1.8 million ad buy by a GOP-aligned political action committee.
With a relative handful of votes counted, Casten’s fellow suburban incumbent Lauren Underwood seemed to be faring better in the 14th District, leading Kendall County Board President Scott Gryder 60% to 40%, with less than 1% of precincts reporting.
Underwood won by narrow margins in her first two elections for Congress and raised more than $6 million for her race against Gryder, who raised roughly a tenth of what the incumbent pulled in.
With just 3.2% of precincts reporting in the 11th District, incumbent Democrat Bill Foster led Republican Catalina Lauf 56% to 44% in a district Biden won by 15 points in 2020.
A physicist who won his first term in Congress in the run-off race to replace former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Foster, 69, has served five terms in Congress. Lauf, a 29-year-old former Trump administration official, leaned into her ties to the former president and was featured as a speaker at the 2020 Republican Convention.
In the north suburbs, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi seemed well on his way to a fourth term representing the 8th District, holding a 58% to 42% lead over Republican Chris Dargis with 35.3% of precincts reporting. Krishnamoorthi in 2020 beat Libertarian Preston Gabriel Nelson in the general election by more than 50 points.
Jan Schakowsky, a 12-term incumbent representing the north suburbs and parts of Chicago, was cruising to a win against Republican Maxwell “Max” Rice, 74% to 26%, with 73% of precincts reporting.
With about 14% of precincts reporting in the 10th District, incumbent Democrat Brad Schneider led Joseph Severino with 66% of the vote to the Republican’s 34%.
