State Rep. Sharon Chung, who fended off Republican challenger Desi Anderson to hold her Illinois House seat on Election Day, said state and local Democratic victories show "a really energized party with lots of momentum."
"I think it's a lot of the work that we've been doing as a party — a lot of work that we've been doing as candidates, getting out there, talking to people," Chung said Wednesday during a live interview on WGLT on Morning Edition. "I think, in the past, there really haven't been as many candidates who have been willing to step up and and run a really competitive race with resources put behind them."
Chung was among several Democratic wins in McLean County: U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen beat Republican Joe McGraw in the 17th Congressional District. Democratic state Sen. Dave Koehler, whose 46th District now includes Bloomington-Normal, won his sixth term against Republican challenger Sally Owens. And Democrats also seized majority control of the McLean County Board in Tuesday's election, unseating two incumbent Republicans and tipping the balance of power in their favor for the first time.
Chung, a former county board member, said the shift in power balance on the county board is the byproduct of years of on-the-ground work.
"Every single one of the candidates who ran for county board this year — they were out there knocking on doors, talking to their neighbors, talking to their friends. We started that back at in 2018 when I ran for county board," she said. "Back then, there were five Democratic members on the board. [It's pretty] incredible just to be able to make the make up those grounds, in that short amount of time."
Chung gave the comments during an interview on Morning Edition, where she also discussed upcoming legislative priorities. You can listen to the full interview below:
