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Incumbents appeared headed to victory in Illinois General Assembly districts that include portions of McHenry County.
House District 63
Republican incumbent State Rep. Steve Reick of Woodstock and his challenger, Democrat Mary Mahady, the McHenry Township assessor, were close for much of night, with Mahady at time ahead. But in the end, in unofficial totals, the Associated Press called the race for Reick, who picked up about 53% of the vote.
The 63rd District covers much of McHenry County, stretching from Cary to the Marengo area and includes parts of Woodstock, Crystal Lake, McHenry, Bull Valley, Island Lake and Prairie Grove.
Reick was first elected to the House seat in 2016 and won reelection two years ago. His priorities including reform of the Department of Children and Family Services and pensions.
House District 66
In House District 66, Democrat State Rep. Suzanne Ness of Crystal Lake appeared to be pulling ahead of her challenger, Republican Laurie Parman of Sleepy Hollow.
Ness appeared to clinch her third term to serve in the Illinois House against Parman, a retired Algonquin-based School District 300.
District 66 covers parts of McHenry and Kane counties including Crystal Lake, Lakewood, Algonquin, Carpentersville, Sleepy Hallow, East Dundee, West Dundee and Elgin.
Ness, 55, was first elected in 2020, said she ran again in hopes to finish things she started, like expanding resources for people with intellectual disabilities, she told the Northwest Herald last week.
House District 52
In the 52nd District, Republican incumbent State Rep. Martin McLaughlin was in the tightest race of the area incumbents, with less than 1,000 votes separating him and Democratic challenger Maria Peterson.
The district mostly includes parts of Lake, Cook and Kane counties but also portions of McHenry County in Cary, Algonquin and Barrington Hills.
McLaughlin, who works in pension management, is the former Barrington Hills village president and first took office in the Statehouse 2021. Peterson, a retired attorney and small business owner, ran against State Sen. Dan McConchie in 2022 and narrowly lost in the general election.
In Daily Herald questionnaires, both candidates touted their business ownership.
“I am a former mayor who has reduced budgets, taxes and spending by working with those who didn’t always agree with me. I am a business owner who understands the value of work and demands efficiency from local, state and the federal government when they spend our tax dollars. I know that policies only work when we have the funding for them,” McLaughlin wrote in his questionnaire.
House District 69
GOP incumbent Joe Sosnowski of Rockford, a former local alderman, handily beat his Democratic challenger Peter Janko, who lives near Marengo.
Sosnowski has been a critic of the SAFE-T Act which, among other changes to the criminal justice system, did away with cash bond. He is a proponent of lowering property taxes.
House District 70
Incumbent Republican Jeff Keicher, of Sycamore, extended a large early lead against Democrat Randi Olson, of Cortland.
The winner of the race will represent a district that extends from west of Sandwich through predominantly rural areas of eastern DeKalb County and western Kane County to southern McHenry County, between Huntley and Lake in the Hills.