Some Quick Reactions to March 20 congressional primary elections.
It was no surprise that Mitt Romney won the Presidential Primary. Not only was he more moderate -- in a Blue State -- but simple math worked for him, as Santorum had not filed a full slate.
But this primary did produce results that may well hold significance for the fall, and the future of Illinois.
In Congressional races -- Adam Kinzinger was a huge winner, by winning the primary against fellow incumbent Republican congressman, Don Manzullo. The GOP voters decided ultimately to not pull the plug on one of their more promising freshmen. Kinzinger is an attractive young congressman, and is likely he can now look forward to serving in congress for another term.
On the Democratic side, Tammy Duckworth, won a hard-fought primary against Raja Krishnamoorthi. And Duckworth won with 66% of the vote ! Raja Krishnamoorthi is a friend of President Obama. But so too is Army Veteran Tammy Duckworth, who previously led the IL Dept of Veterans Affairs, and was Undersecretary at the US Dept of Veterans Affairs. She is also a veteran of running for congress, having lost previously to Peter Roskam in 2008.
A young man, but an old name-- Jason Plummer -- who ran as Bill Brady's Lt Governor teammate in 2010, won the GOP nomination to try to win the congressional seat held by Rep Jerry Costello, in the Metro-East area across from St.Louis. Plummer, whose family made a fortune in the RP Lumber chain of stores, will face off against Democratic nominee, Brad Harriman. Now this seat, the newly formed 12th Congressional district, has been in Democratic hands since Noah got off the arc. But interestingly we see far more votes cast in the Republican primary than in the Democratic primary. There were about 38,000 votes cast on the Democratic side, to 46,000+ in the GOP primary.
One of the tighest races was in the Democratic nomination for Congress in the new 13th District, which takes in parts of the eastern and central part of the state.
David Gill 14,245 51.9%
Matthew Goetten 13,220 48.1%
Gill won a squeaker, and now takes on Repubican veteran Tim Johnson
In the 2nd Congressional District
Democratic Votes Pct.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. 55,118 71.2%
Debbie Halvorson 22,336 28.8%
Jesse Jackson Jr easily defeated former Democratic congresswoman, Debbie Halverson. Halverson was counting on Jackson's ethical cloud -- a leftover from the Blagojevich investigation, in which it is alleged that Jackson may have been interested in buying the US Senate seat. The new district also included some areas where Halverson had represented in the past. But clearly the Jackson had no significant treat from his former congressional colleague.
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