President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump swept to easy victories Tuesday in Illinois’ presidential primaries, racking up additional national convention delegates on top of those collected from earlier state contests that assured them of formally winning nomination this summer.
But Republicans nationally were also closely eying results from two downstate congressional primary contests — a southern Illinois battle pitting incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bost against 2020 defeated GOP governor candidate Darren Bailey, and a northwest and west central Illinois race between Joseph McGraw and Scott Crowl vying for the right to take on first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen.
In Illinois’ Democratic presidential primary, AP declared Biden the victor with no formal challenge. With 27% of the vote counted, Biden had 91% over two nominal challengers
With the win, Biden was expected to collect the 147 elected and at-large nominating delegates who make up the bulk of state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19-22.
On the Republican side, Trump’s name appeared on the ballot along with a field of contenders who had dropped out of the contest weeks and months earlier. AP named Trump the winner shortly after the polls closed with 16% of the vote count showing he had 77% support. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had 18%.
The win assured Trump of at least 13 at-large nominating delegates, while voters in each of the state’s 17 congressional districts selected a total of 51 more delegates to go to the GOP national convention in Milwaukee from July 15-18.
With their nominations assured, neither Trump or Biden campaigned in the state. With Illinois a safely blue state in presidential elections, it is likely it will continue to be a flyover state for Trump, while Biden will be in Chicago to accept his renomination for president at the United Center in late summer.
Trump’s status on the state’s GOP primary ballot wasn’t assured until about two weeks ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states do not have the power to decide a candidate’s eligibility for the presidency under the “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Last month, Cook County Judge Tracie Porter ruled Trump off the ballot, saying he had engaged in insurrection for his role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that was aimed at preventing the Electoral College vote count that made Biden president. The nation’s high court decision reversed that ruling.
In downstate Illinois’ massive 12th Congressional District, comprises all or part of 34 counties, its 5,000 square miles goes south of Effingham and covers roughly the bottom third of the state. In the 12th, Bost and Bailey are running as teammates as Trump delegates — an indication of the powerful hold the former president has over Republicans in rural Illinois.
But in the primary race for Congress, five-term incumbent Bost, 63, of Murphysboro, has Trump’s backing despite the effort of Bailey, 58, of Xenia, to get the former president’s endorsement through frequent trips to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Early vote totals showed Bost had 75% to Bailey’s 25%.
Running in the state’s most conservative congressional district, Bost promoted his experience and the role of seniority in Congress as the reason he should be reelected. Bost gained the post of chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs when Republicans gained their narrow House majority in 2022.
Bost campaigned as a “governing conservative,” saying he still sought compromise and working with Democrats to find common ground without abandoning his principles, which in the district include opposition to abortion and gun owner rights.
As the incumbent and backed by the National Republican Congressional Committee, Bost held a huge money advantage over Bailey. Through the end of February, campaign finance reports showed Bost outspending Bailey by better than 5-to-1, $2.2 million to $400,000.
Bost assailed Bailey as running to assuage his ego and contended the challenger’s support for the far-right House Freedom Caucus would mean sending another government disrupter to Congress, more in search of media attention than governing.
Bailey had built his campaign around expectations of getting Trump’s endorsement, as he had in his unsuccessful governor campaign. Spurned by Trump, Bailey continued to run as a loyalist to the former president in taking on Bost from the right and criticizing the incumbent as part of the Washington establishment “swamp.”
Bailey counted on strong grassroots support and name recognition in the district, where he was heavily backed in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, to counter Bost’s money and heavy television ad campaign.
Further north and west, the Republican primary in the 17th District pitting McGraw against Crowl was viewed as selecting a nominee in a district where the GOP nationally believes it has an opportunity to pick up a Democratic seat. Democrats hold a 14-3 advantage in the 17-member House delegation.
Sorensen defeated Republican Esther Joy King 52% to 48% to win his first term in 2022. Biden won within the district’s boundaries by 7.8% over Trump in 2020.
The 17th District goes from Rockford on the north to the Mississippi River to the west then snakes south along the river’s edge before jutting east to include Galesburg, Peoria and the Bloomington-Normal area, home of Illinois State University.
McGraw, a retired judge from Rockford, was backed by most Republican leaders in the region, including U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria. Crowl is a grain farmer from Milan and a former public employee union local president.
In very early vote counting, McGraw had 65% to Crowl’s 35%. Sorenson, a former television meteorologist and activist against climate change, had no opposition.
Following a national Republican playbook, both candidates criticized the Biden White House southern border policies and each has backed Trump’s call for building a border wall. Crowl has gone further, proposing DNA testing to determine the parentage of undocumented children.
McGraw has promoted a law-and-order agenda while also touting his judicial background, saying he would base decisions on issues according to the law.
