State Sen. Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, after a brutal and lengthy campaign against State Comptroller Dan Hynes, businessman Blair Hull, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, former schools chief Gery Chico, Joyce Washington and Nancy Skinner.
Obama was solid across the city of Chicago, and was far ahead in the polls as Windy City Times went to press late Tuesday.
The race with three gay candidates a record for Illinois saw a tough fight down to the last vote. Lesbian Sheryl Pethers was about 50 votes ahead of Jon Erickson, and in third was John Erhlich in the 8th Subcircuit judicial race. At last count, Erickson had 11,829 votes (30.1%), Erhlich 8,492 (21.6%) and Pethers was in the lead: 11,882 (30.2%).
"I was told I had an 8% chance of winning," Pethers said via phone Tuesday night. "With my family and friends my relatives and my family in the GLBT community I'll take those odds. ... [Erickson] sure made me run a competitive race. It is sad that anybody from our community has to lose."
The race was too close to call, with a couple of precincts still not reporting as of Wednesday morning. With Pethers maintaining a slight lead throughout the night, poll watchers gave her the edge. But Erickson backers note that the missing precincts are ones that could tip in his favor.
Sen. John Kerry easily took his party's top spot in the race for President. Almost every incumbent in city, county, and state races was re-nominated. Gay candidate Michael Harrington lost his race for 49th Ward Democratic Committeeman.