The McLean County Democrats successfully defended and increased their majority on the county board in Tuesday's election.
By flipping a GOP-held seat and defending their own, Democrats will now have a 13-to-7 majority — one more than they had before — according to unofficial election results. Democrats have steadily picked up seats on the board since 2018. At the time of Donald Trump’s first election, Democrats only held five seats. This was the first election they were defending their majority.
McLean County Board Chair Elizabeth Johnston said she was pleased with the results and that voters "voted in their best interests."
Johnston said people are more attuned to politics thanks to national issues, but that she didn't think it was the only reason Democrats saw success locally.
"It's really about the candidates themselves," she said. "We've continued for eight years to increase the caliber of candidates that we have and it's really resonated with the voters."
There were eight contested county board races on Tuesday. They saw Republicans campaigning against decisions and priorities of the newly Democratic board. Candidates often cited issues over finances, like in Districts 4 and 5 where challengers Jerry Klinkner and Jeff Lord, respectively, said spending needs to be done responsibly and called for stronger support of law enforcement.
Klinkner lost to incumbent Democrat William Bessler by more than 30 points. Bessler was appointed to his current seat several months ago.
Bessler credited grassroots organizing as part of Democrats' success in the county.
"We knocked on over 5,000 doors throughout the campaign, attended a lot of events and really just did the hard work of political campaigning," he said.
Lord was defeated by incumbent Democrat Buck Farley by a slightly narrower margin, earning 42% of votes cast, compared to Farley’s 58%.
"It's awesome," Farley said. "I think tonight we can see it's a rebuke of what the nation's been facing the last two years. People obviously want change, and now that we have that majority—it looks like we're going to maintain that majority tonight on the county board, we can continue working for the people."
Another factor was the Democrats' substantial cash advantage. Gov. JB Pritzker’s campaign turbocharged county Democrats just weeks before Election Day with a $75,000 contribution.
District by district
Two big tests came from districts like that of incumbent Corey Beirne in District 10, a long and narrow district including parts of east Bloomington and Normal. Beirne touted the success of his first term, while Republican candidate Matt Steinkoenig aligned his candidacy with a need for change.
Beirne edged out his Republican challenger by four points to retain his seat.
In District 7 in Bloomington, Democrat John D. Poling, a political newcomer, unseated incumbent Republican Geoff Tompkins with 62% of the vote.
South Bloomington's District 9 had no incumbent, the only open seat this election. Newcomer Jennifer Brown, a Democrat, defeated Kevin Lower, a former Bloomington alderman running as a Republican, also with 62% of the vote.
Republican incumbents included District 1’s Andy Ziebarth, District 2’s Bill Friedrich and District 3’s Brian Bangert, who all easily won reelection in each of their largely rural districts covering towns like Towanda, Ellsworth, Heyworth, Carlock and more. Democratic challenger Rick Perez Jr. came the closest in his bid against Bangert, earning about 43% of the vote.
Party leadership reacts
Elizabeth Johnston said she expects to be nominated as county board chair again, and that she has support amongst her party.
Johnston also said she is looking forward to working with Joshua Crockett as the incoming county clerk. She said the board serves as a liaison between county department heads, and she was hopeful they could collaborate more with the clerk's office under new leadership.
While the board's majority has expanded, Johnston said she did not expect bipartisanship to decrease on the board.
"I think the majority of the county board members who come in, come in to serve our residents," she said.
"People are starting to have choices," she continued in reference to county board races. "As we grow our majority, [voters] continue to choose a party that is focused on issues that are important here in McLean County and not necessarily partisan talking points."
Republicans look to the future
The McLean County Republican Party did not hold a formal election night event, and its candidates were largely quiet on social media.
County GOP Chair Connie Beard said she's disappointed in the results but hopeful about moving the party forward.
In a phone call, Beard said the GOP will aim to incorporate the voices of young Republicans moving into future elections.
“Our young Republican group has grown over the last year and a half. I personally as chairman have worked hard at trying to recruit younger people to take on the mantle and help push forward,” she said.
The county Republicans no longer have some of the dependable, strong voices they once did on the board, such as the John McIntyres, Chuck Ericksons or George Wendts.
Beard said the best thing the old guard can do is tap into the future.
‘We’re going to come out of this with a way to evaluate and revamp our approach to the future elections, to recruit and find those young people that can step up and recognize value and conservative principles and good stewardship of our resources, and the value of lower taxes, lower costs,” said Beard.
Beard said she worries about property taxes increasing and leading McLean County residents to move out of state.
“We’ve had many solicitations of sorrow from our people who have left the state, saying they just couldn’t take it anymore, it was too much in Illinois,” Beard said. “So, we are going to do our best to keep holding a mantle of common sense, of what’s good for working families in our community, challenging our now Democrat officials to not raise our taxes, to not increase our expenses.”
