“At least a mini red wave may have swept some corners of America this Election Day. But not in Illinois, which with an exception or two remained about Democratic blue as you can get.”

Giannoulias, who served one term as treasurer before being defeated in the 2010 U.S. Senate race against Republican Mark Kirk, will replace Jesse White next year, with White retiring after a career that spanned 24 years in office.

Challenger Kathy Salvi’s campaign released the following statement after the race was called in Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s favor: “While she and I differ on many issues, we share the view that we need to strengthen our economy, make communities safe and restore civility to our political system.”

Total unemployment claims have remained under 70,000 for 26 weeks.

Illinois was ranked as the 24th most prosperous state in the report, up slightly from 2021. The Land of Lincoln ranked 6th in the country for business climate, but received poor scores in the areas of safety and security, at 34th, and economic quality, which ranked the state 48th in the country.

The Champaign County Clerk said the website has been the target of repeated D-DOS attacks for the past month; The reinforced security and response from the Clerk’s IT team has prevented these attacks from being successful and the Clerk’s website has remained secured. However, it is affecting wait times at the polls.

Hailing the American Dream, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich remained optimistic about the future of the country. “I don’t know why my party somehow thinks America is a bad place,” Blagojevich said. “We have tremendous imperfections … but the fact of the matter is … we’ve come a long way.”

The Illinois Commerce Commission’s electric-choice website shows many communities are in the same situation: Their municipal electric aggregation contracts with alternate power suppliers are about to run out at the end of the year, bringing an end to the lower prices that were locked in before energy costs began to soar.

“There has been much confusion and vitriol surrounding the passage and haphazard attempts to implement the SAFE-T Act over the past year and a half. We are hopeful that now, calmer heads will prevail, the rule of law will be respected, and the judiciary in its wisdom will once again make it clear that the constitution’s mandates must be followed and the general assembly may not simply ignore them whenever it pleases,” read a statement from 62 Illinois state’s attorneys, both Democrat and Republican, who have filed suit to block the implementation of the new law.

Retired Judge Chase Leonhard: “Perhaps the desire of any political faction to abolish cash bail is sincere and, at some level, understandable. However, truth be told, the abolition of cash bail is neither a necessary nor a wise response to a deeper problem.”

In May, U.S. Rep. Michael J. Bost and two other Illinois Republicans filed suit in Chicago federal court against the Illinois State Board of Elections, asking the judge to declare Illinois can’t count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, if those ballots include votes for federal offices. “Upon further consideration of the parties’ written arguments, the Court finds that the decisional process for this motion would be aided by oral argument,” Judge John Kness wrote in an order filed late in the day Nov. 7.

A compressed election season that buffeted voters with tens of millions of dollars in largely negative ads ends Tuesday as voters go to the polls to decide contests from U.S. Senate, governor, statewide offices and every congressional and state legislative seat as well as a proposal to change the state’s constitution.

Authorities statewide have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to increase election security. The upgrades range from digital firewalls to security cameras deployed in ballot processing rooms and equipment warehouses.