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Illinois voters selected Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton as the Democratic nominee to run for the U.S. Senate seat of the retiring Dick Durbin but that was not the wish of voters in Peoria County.

In Peoria County, voters favored U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who earned 5,382 votes, or 42.72 percent of ballots cast. Krishnamoorthi strength in the county came from early and mail-in votes, receiving 44 and 57 percent of those, respectively.

Stratton garnered just 4,988 votes (39.6 percent) in Peoria County although she had strong election day totals outpacing Krishnamoorthi 2,947 to 1,756.

Peoria County voters were flooded with attack ads in the race during the weeks leading into the election, with each candidate being accused of accepting campaign donations from backers of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration actions.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly finished a distant third in votes cast, with 1,148, or 9.11 percent of the Democratic vote.

On the Republican side, Peoria County voters favored the eventual nominee, Illinois GOP Party Chairman Don Tracy, who Tracy who will face Stratton in the November contest.

Tracy, who focused on lowering living costs and drug prices, received 3,140 votes, or 41.21 percent of the votes cast. Tracy defeated attorney Jeannie Evans (1,460 votes; 19.16 percent) and businessman Casey Chlebek (791 votes; 10.38 percent) to earn the bid.

In the race for the Republican nominee for governor, Peoria County Republicans made it clear they support Darren Bailey and his running-mate, Aaron Del Mar, who were also the statewide winners. The ticket received 4,480 votes in the county, or 54.67 percent of total ballots cast. Bailey outpaced policy researcher Ted Dabrowski (2,397 votes; 29 percent) in the county toward earning his second opportunity to challenge Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Pritzker ran with lieutenant governor candidate Christian Mitchell. Two other teams garnered about 16 percent of the GOP vote.

For state comptroller, Peoria County’s Democratic voters selected Margaret Croke over Holly Kim and Karina Villa. Croke earned 1,926 votes (29.83 percent) to Kim’s 1,409 votes (28.35 percent) and Villa’s 1,149 votes (20.37 percent). Croke won nomination and will face Republican nominee Bryan Drew. Current Democratic State Comptroller Susana Mendoza did not seek reelection.

Paul Nolley, a Democrat seeking to unseat Darin LaHood as Illinois’ 16th Congressional District, ran unopposed, as did LaHood, although John Kitover received 11 Republican write-in votes against LaHood’s 3,541 tallies in Peoria County. In the race to see which Republican will challenge 17th District Rep. Eric Sorensen, a Democrat who ran unopposed in the primary, Dillan Vancil defeated Julie Bickelhaupt. He is garnering 2,743, or almost 66 percent, of the votes in Peoria County to Bickelhaupt’s 1,428, about 34 percent.

In the primary for state legislature seats, with a small portion of the 94th District sitting in Peoria County, Joshua Higgins defeated incumbent Norine Hammond districtwide for the Republican nomination and was favored by the handful of Peoria County voters. No Democrat ran in the primary.

In the Peoria County races, treasurer candidate Randy Stevens waged a successful write-in campaign to earn the Democratic nomination and will face Republican Branden Miller, who ran unopposed.

TAZEWELL COUNTY

Tazewell County Democratic primary voters favored Krishnamoorthi over Stratton as their nominee seat by a vote of 2,770 (43.83 percent) to 2,469 (39.07 percent), respectively. Tazewell GOP primary voters chose Tracy (3429 votes; 40.46 percent) over Evans (1828 votes; 21.57 percent) and Pamela Denise Long (1028 votes; 12.13 percent) to represent the party in the November election.

In the Republican primary for governor, the Bailey-Del Mar ticket received 5,522 votes, or 61.56 percent of the ballots cast in Tazewell County. Dabrowski and running-mate Carrie Mendoza garnered 2,085 votes, or 23.24 percent, of the county’s votes.

Tazewell County GOP voters favored the eventual nominee, Diane Harris, to run for secretary of state in November. Harris outpaced Walter Adamczyk by a tally of 4,790 to 3,515 votes in the county.

In the 17th District, Tazwell voters favored Vancil over Bickelhaupt with 552 votes (64.49 percent) to Bickelhaupt’s 304 votes (35.51 percent).

Tazwell County voters preferred Margaret Croke over the second-largest vote-getter Holly Kim in the race for the Democratic nomination for state comptroller. Croke garnered 2,125 votes, or 35.55 percent, to Kim’s 2.018 Tazewell County votes. Karina Villa received 1,148 votes in the county and Stephanie Kifowit received 687.

The GOP’s 94th District legislative race was won by Higgins with 49.35 percent of the 154 votes cast.

WOODFORD COUNTY

Woodford County GOP voters agreed with statewide voters and made Tracy their choice to square off against Democrat Stratton in November for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Durbin. With 1,392 primary votes (41.59 percent), Tracy easily won over Woodford voters compared to the closest opponent, Evans, who tallied 817, or 24.41 percent, of the vote.

Stratton prevailed among Woodford County Democrats, edging Krishnamoorthi in the voting 651 to 625.

In the governor’s race Bailey-Del Mar came out on top with 2,409 votes (67.5 percent) to 756 (21 percent) for Dabrowski-Mendoza. Harris took the Republican secretary of state nod over Adamczyk 1,958 to 1,304. Harris will face off against current Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat, in November.

Croke was successful in her Democratic bid for the state comptroller’s nod in Woodford County, edging Kim by a vote of 561 to 481.

MCLEAN COUNTY

Stratton had the greatest number of Democratic for the U.S. senate nomination with 54 percent of Democratic voters in McLean County selecting her to be on the November ballot.

In all 3,801 Democratic primary voters selected the lieutenant governor over Krishnamoorthi, who secured just 1,936, or 27.87 percent, of total votes. Kelly, with just 621 votes, was third.

In the Senate contest Tracy carried the McLean County GOP vote with 2,679 tallies (43.17 percent) over Evans’ 1,472 votes (23.72). Long was third with just over 10 percent of total votes in the senate race.

In the governor’s race, Bailey nailed down 64 percent of the votes compared with Dabrowksi, with a total of 4,111 to Dabrowski’s 1,590.

In the 17th Congressional District 17, Vancil outpolled Bickelhaupt 990 to 520.

In one of the day’s closer races in McClean County, Harris earned the McLean County GOP nod for secretary of state over Adamczyk, 3,537 votes (57.86 percent) to 2,576 votes (42.14 percent).

In the Democratic race for comptroller, Kim outpolled Croke by a count of 2,427 votes (36.74 percent) to 1,970 votes (29.83 percent). Croke, however, won