Congressman Wins G.O.P. Primary for Senate Seat
CHICAGO — Representative Mark Steven Kirk easily won a Republican primary for the United States Senate on Tuesday, setting up what Republican leaders here hope will be a serious fight for the seat once held by President Obama.
Mr. Kirk, a five-term congressman with centrist-leaning views, held a significant lead late Tuesday, far ahead of five competitors. In November, Mr. Kirk will compete against the winner of a Democratic primary in a reliably blue state where Republicans nonetheless hope to see inroads this year.
“The people of Illinois have seen the arrogance of a one party state,” Mr. Kirk said in his victory speech. “We know that one political party cannot hold all the answers, and that one political party should not hold all the power.”
The top candidates seeking the Democratic nomination were Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer; David Hoffman, a former city inspector general and federal prosecutor; and Cheryle Jackson, leader of the Chicago Urban League.
Democrats are eager to keep the seat not just to shore up their majority in the Senate, but also for the symbolism it carries. Roland W. Burris, a Democrat who was appointed to fill the Senate seat after Mr. Obama became president, never overcame controversy that surrounded his appointment and chose not to run.
The statewide primary, which appeared to have drawn low turnout (some experts blamed snow flurries, others ambivalence), was the nation’s first in the 2010 elections. The timing — which drew added attention to this state’s races from those searching for potential trends — was the result of Democrats here having pushed for an earlier than usual primary in 2008, when they wished to have an early say in Mr. Obama’s presidential chances.
Illinois voters do not register by party, but the state has leaned overwhelmingly Democratic in recent years; the party holds every statewide elected post and a majority in both chambers of the state legislature. Still, Republicans this year said they hoped to seize on the dismal state economy, the anti-establishment mood they saw last month in the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Edward M. Kennedy, and the lingering, unavoidable shadow of Rod R. Blagojevich, the indicted former governor and a Democrat.
Voters on Tuesday were also selecting party nominees for governor, a job that has not been up for election since Mr. Blagojevich, whom prosecutors accused of trying to sell Mr. Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder, was ousted a year ago.
On the Democratic side, Patrick J. Quinn, who was elevated to governor from lieutenant governor a year ago to replace Mr. Blagojevich, has faced a strong challenge from Dan Hynes, the state comptroller. Republicans vying to be governor included Andy McKenna, former chairman of the state Republican Party; Jim Ryan, a former state attorney general; and two state senators, Kirk Dillard and Bill Brady.
A wide range of other contested races — for statewide offices, congressional seats, the state legislature, judicial jobs and county offices — were also held. West of Chicago, Ethan A. Hastert, the son of J. Dennis Hastert, the retired United States House speaker, was competing against Randy Hultgren, a state legislator, in a Republican primary for the 14th congressional district House seat. The winner will oppose Representative Bill Foster, a scientist and Democrat who won the once reliably red district in 2008.
And in Cook County, which includes Chicago, Todd H. Stroger, the beleaguered county board president who oversees a $3 billion budget and tens of thousands of employees, was easily defeated in a Democratic primary. Mr. Stroger’s father, John, the longtime president of the county board until he had a stroke, had long held an alliance with Mayor Richard M. Daley, but Mr. Daley endorsed no one this time.
Toni Preckwinkle, a Chicago alderman who represents the South Side ward where Mr. Obama used to live, declared victory. “Now is the time to repeal the Stroger sales tax,” she said. “Now is the time to end patronage.”
Though in this county, the winner of the Democratic primary has for four decades ultimately taken the general election, Roger Keats, a former state legislator, opposed John Garrido, a Chicago police lieutenant, in the Republican primary.
Emma Graves Fitzsimmons contributed reporting. |
