Mary Dixon: Illinois turned a darker shade of blue, after Democrats claimed all the big election prizes last night. Democratic Governor JB Pritzker, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth are re-elected. The Illinois Supreme Court remains under Democratic control and suburban members of Congress have won reelection. Here to break it down is WBEZ's state politics reporter Dave McKinney. Good morning, Dave.

Dave McKinney: Good morning, Mary. Late night.

Mary Dixon: Yeah. And an early morning, but a lot of talk about a potential red wave that did not appear, or at least not in Illinois. Can you tell us what the election means to Democrats and Republicans here?

Dave McKinney: Well Mary, this election was one that the far right of the GOP threw millions of dollars at. And we all, most of us, got those fake newspapers in their mailboxes. Many of us saw the shock ad of a woman screaming as she was attacked. This was all the handiwork of GOP megadonor Dick Uihlein and his sidekick Dan Proft. Overwhelmingly, voters rejected what they were selling. And you have to wonder when these two are going to look hard at their strategic failures. Democrats, they were the ones popping champagne bottles last night. They didn't lose a single race that mattered to them. And the governor's big win has to be read as a resounding affirmation by voters for his defense of abortion rights, his improvement of the state's finances and his management of the pandemic.

Mary Dixon: What would you say is next for the Illinois Republican Party?

Dave McKinney: Well, this morning undoubtedly, I think there are a bunch of "I told you sos" circulating within a segment of the GOP that had backed Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin as the party's best shot at taking on Pritzker. For a time, Irvin was the heavy favorite to win the GOP gubernatorial primary but the Republican Party here appears to be in complete disarray. The nation's bad economy and crime were issues that Republicans thought might be their ticket back to power here in Illinois, but that just did not happen. Irvin's primary loss, with that, the GOP lost its biggest funder in billionaire Ken Griffin, who moved to Florida. And the Trump aligned candidates like Darren Bailey in the governor's race, they won the Republican primary but they all fared poorly last night. And you know, they can win downstate, but they can't win statewide. Another example of the disarray playing out this morning, Jim Durkin announced he's stepping down as House Republican leader. And Durkin has been a fixture in Springfield for decades and very much represents that establishment wing of the Republican Party I was talking about. Democrats retain their supermajority status, and they at least gained seats in the House last night, Mary.

Mary Dixon: So back to the governor's race, it was called for Pritzker over Darren Bailey not too long after the polls closed. Can you tell us how both men characterize the results? 

Dave McKinney: Well, Pritzker won big in the suburbs, in coasting to a 13 percentage point win. He described his victory as an important statement against some of the anti-democratic ideals that are out circulating among the GOP right now. 

JB Pritzker: This is a moment requiring a steel spine for the years ahead, as our nation's fundamental ideals are under siege.

Dave McKinney: And Bailey conceded defeat, but he did so while taking shots at the governor.

Darren Bailey: Illinois must be better. Our leaders must be better. And JB Pritzker. You need to be better.

Dave McKinney: I mean, you could say that it was Bailey who needed to do better. At least in the city. He got 17% of the vote in Chicago, which we all remember he infamously called a "hellhole." That number is below the historic 20% threshold that winning Republican gubernatorial candidates really have to have to win.

Mary Dixon: And also at the top of the ticket, Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth easily won reelection. What happened there?

Dave McKinney: Well, the Republican Kathy Salvi did not spend any money to get herself on television. She ran a campaign that involved few public events. She wasn't accessible, and those are all traits of a losing campaign.

Mary Dixon: A lot of eyes were on the two open Illinois Supreme Court seats. Had those gone to Republicans, Democrats would lose control of the court for the first time in more than 50 years. Can you tell us what happened?

Dave McKinney: It's looking like Democrats are gonna have a five to two majority on the court. Democratic Lake County Judge Elizabeth Rochford defeated Republican Mark Curran for a seat that includes Kane, Lake and McHenry Counties. And in the other open seat, that includes DuPage and Will Counties, incumbent Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke has conceded to Democratic appellate justice Mary Kay O'Brien.

Mary Dixon: Okay. And as we go down the ballot, Democrats retain their holds on every statewide office in Illinois from Attorney General, Secretary of State and can you tell us about the winners and losers?

Dave McKinney: Democrat Jesse white, he's the he was the longest serving Secretary of State and Illinois history, well he's turning over the office keys to Democrat Alexi Giannoulias. You'll remember him as the former state treasurer. He defeated Republican Dan Brady. Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul won a second term by turning back Republican Tom DeVore and he's the attorney who fought COVID mitigations in court. Democrats also are keeping the offices of State Comptroller and State Treasurer for four more years as well.

Mary Dixon: And in the races for Congress, the west suburbs were in play in three seats. It looks like Democrats are going to retain their hold on them. What do you take away from these outcomes?

Dave McKinney: The closest contest Murray was in the sixth congressional district in DuPage County and the Southwest suburbs. That's where incumbent Democratic Congressman Sean Casten beat Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau by eight percentage points. Pekau though, he showed no respect for the will of voters. He said that, quote, "55% of the people are still duped by a message of lies and deceit over honesty by a message of death over life." I mean, that's pretty dark stuff. Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, she declared victory in her race. And as we mentioned earlier, Congressman Bill Foster won another term in Congress as well.

Mary Dixon: There was also a statewide ballot measure, a union backed push to change the Illinois constitution to enshrine collective bargaining rights. It doesn't look like we have a final answer on whether that's passed. What can you tell us about that?

Dave McKinney: A final call on whether the workers rights amendment may take more time, but the early returns look really promising for labor, with just under 60% supporting that measure. Unions, they're saying it passed, but a conservative group that opposed it says it's still too early to call. Now Republicans fought against this amendment. They claimed it would lead to property taxes, but it just does not look like Illinois voters were buying that argument at all.

Mary Dixon: Well, and with this and with some national races, people are still counting, they're still confirming the votes so be sure to stay with WBEZ throughout the day and really throughout the week for all the latest. But for this morning in studio, WBEZ politics reporter Dave McKinney, thanks for breaking it down for us. 

Dave McKinney: Yeah, and thanks for having me.

Mary Dixon: This is WBEZ.

WBEZ transcripts are generated by an automatic speech recognition service. We do our best to edit for misspellings and typos, but mistakes do come through.