Mixed Night for Democratic Women in Illinois – Duckworth & Bustos Win, Halvorson Falls
March 21, 2012
Tuesday’s primary saw both victory and defeat for Democratic women running for Congress in Illinois. From The Chicago Tribune –“Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth won the Democratic primary tonight in the 8th Congressional District.
Duckworth had 66 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Raja Krishnamoorthi, a former deputy state treasurer with about 60 percent of the vote in.
Duckworth enjoyed the support of large unions, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and political strategist David Axelrod. She lost a high-profile congressional race in 2006 to Republican Peter Roskam and then went on to top posts in the state and federal veterans affairs departments.”
From the Quad City Times – Democrat Cheri Bustos swept to a convincing primary win Tuesday night, setting up what’s expected to be a hard-fought, closely watched fall contest for Illinois’ 17th Congressional District.
Bustos, a former Quad-City Times journalist and hospital executive, cruised to victory over Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp and Augustana College administrator Greg Aguilar, rolling up sizeable winning margins in several of the 14 counties that make up the northwest Illinois district. That included Rock Island County, the most populous part of the district.
At her election-night party at the American Legion hall in East Moline, Bustos looked to the fall campaign.
“Voters will have a choice of my opponent’s views of economic security, which is more tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations, and my view of economic security, which protects and rebuilds the middle class,” she said to applause. “We have to stop the assault on the middle class, on Medicare and Social Security.”
In Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District, former Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson fell short of her quest to beat incumbent Jesse Jackson, Jr. Despite a laundry list of scandal, Jackson secured the support of the powerful Illinois Democratic Party establishment and Halvorson was left to work a grassroots campaign in order to build support.
Redistricting forced Jackson and Halvorson in to the newly drawn 2nd Congressional District.