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Giannoulias claims victory in Illinois Secretary of State race after Brady concedes
Alexi Giannoulias entered the November general election as the favorite over the Republican nominee, state Rep. Dan Brady.
After months of primaries and campaign events, the midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in Washington and state capitals are finally here.
Stay with FOX 32 Chicago on Tuesday night for live results for Illinois Secretary of State, Attorney General and other statewide offices, as well as the latest updates from the 2022 Midterm Election campaign trail.
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Illinois Secretary of State race
Alexi Giannoulias enters the November general election as the favorite over the Republican nominee, state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, as well as downstate Libertarian candidate Jesse White — no relation to the retiring secretary of state.
More than a decade after leaving public office, his political star fallen, Giannoulias landed the Democratic nomination for Illinois secretary of state in June.
The win marked Giannoulias’ first since 2007, when the then-30-year-old Democratic prodigy was elected state treasurer — the youngest person to win that post anywhere in the nation, according to his campaign.
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What to expect in the Illinois Secretary of State race
Alexi Giannoulias enters the November general election as the favorite over the Republican nominee, state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, as well as downstate Libertarian candidate Jesse White — no relation to the retiring secretary of state.
That meteoric political rise fell back to earth in 2010 with his failed bid for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by his pickup basketball buddy Barack Obama. Giannoulias won the Democratic primary but lost to Mark Kirk in a tight electoral battle that tilted to the Republican candidate after Giannoulias’ family bank went under.
The Broadway Bank failure ended up costing the Federal Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. more than $383 million. Investigators found the bank handed out loans to people with alleged links to organized crime.
Giannoulias, who served as a senior loan officer, was never accused of wrongdoing, but the controversy helped tank his Senate campaign.
Brady currently serves as a deputy House GOP leader.
"The office of the Secretary of State is visited by more Illinois residents than any other in state government and it touches more lives of Illinois residents of any other constitutional office in the state. However, the office has become inefficient with long lines, outdated technology and inefficient processes," Brady said.
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Illinois Attorney General race
Tom DeVore, who successfully challenged Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mask mandate, won the Republican nomination for Illinois attorney general in June and faces incumbent Democrat Kwame Raoul on the fall ballot.
DeVore, 52, of Sorento, has focused on Pritzker’s COVID mandates since jumping into the race in February, and has said Raoul has been too complicit.
"Raoul has for the last two years done whatever the governor has asked him to do," DeVore said in an interview. "I’ll tell whoever is governor that there will be no more mandates."
Campaigning as "the People’s Attorney," DeVore has the words "Freedom" and "Liberty" tattooed on his forearms and has frequently referred to Pritzker as a tyrant.
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2022 Illinois Midterm Election: Key races to keep an eye on
Tom DeVore, who successfully challenged Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mask mandate, won the Republican nomination for Illinois attorney general in June and faces incumbent Democrat Kwame Raoul on the ballot.
Raoul defended Pritzker's pandemic shutdown orders during a recent debate
"We saved people's lives," Raoul responded.
Raoul and DeVore also disagree about the SAFE-T Act, which as of January 1 imposes strict new requirements on police and prosecutors seeking to put violent offenders behind bars before they're convicted at trial. Devore said if he becomes attorney general, he would join the state's attorneys now suing to overturn the SAFE-T Act.
"I do believe it's constitutional, and I will defend it in court," Raoul said.
"My administration is going to be on the opposite side. And we're going to defend the people against the SAFE-T Act," DeVore said.
What to expect on election night
ELECTION NIGHT
Polls close at 7 p.m. local time.
HOW ILLINOIS VOTES
Illinois voters are increasingly casting their ballots before Election Day, either by mail or in person at voting centers. During the pandemic in 2020, two-thirds of Illinois voters voted either by mail or early, but a third of voters already had made the switch away from in-person election-day voting in the two previous elections.
While most Illinois counties are strongly Republican, election results are dominated by overwhelmingly Democratic Chicago, the strongly Democratic Cook County suburbs and the more middle-of-the-road "collar counties" surrounding Chicago. More than a quarter of the electorate lives in Chicago and Cook County alone, making those the counties to watch in statewide races.
DECISION NOTES
AP will tabulate votes in 150 races, including one for U.S. Senate, 17 for U.S. House, as well as governor, four other statewide offices and a statewide ballot measure. In the 2020 presidential election, the first votes were reported at 8:09 p.m. local time and the state reached 90% of the vote counted in the evening of the day after election day.
AP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners. Only when AP is fully confident a race has been won – defined most simply as the moment a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory – will we make a call. Should a candidate declare victory – or offer a concession – before AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting. In doing so, we will make clear that AP has not yet declared a winner and explain the reason why we believe the race is too early or too close to call. The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.
The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2%. AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there aren’t enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?
Q: WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE THE PANDEMIC ELECTION OF 2020?
A: Illinois has taken one more step to make it easier to vote by mail, giving voters the option to automatically receive a mail ballot in future elections.
Q: WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?
A: More than 6 million Illinoisans voted in the 2020 presidential election, and 4.6 million turned out for the governor’s election in 2018. Turnout is typically lower in non-presidential years such as this year.
Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?
A: While Illinois historically has counted most of its ballots on election night, the boom in mail and early voting meant more than 13% of Illinois votes were counted after election day in 2020. This means winners may not be known in close races until the days after the election.
Q: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TUESDAY?
A: Illinois does not have an automatic or mandatory recount law. Candidates may seek – and pay for – a recount if the losing candidate received 95% of the vote of the winner. Recount results are for discovery purposes – to be used in a potential legal action.
The Associated Press and the FOX 32 Digital Staff contributed to this report.