Robin Kelly Projected Winner Of IL-02 Election

CHICAGO - Incumbent Democrat Robin Kelly is the projected winner of the Illinois 2nd District United States House of Representatives race. The race was called when Kelly had 94 percent of the vote, to Republican challenger David Merkle's 6 percent, as of 8 p.m. with 11 percent of precincts in the district reporting according to a WGN-TV report.

The race for the Illinois 2nd District United States Congressional representative came down to an incumbent who has held the seat since 2013 and a former Kankakee County board member. Democrat incumbent Robin Kelly faced Republican challenger David Merkle after both won primaries earlier this year.

Kelly served in Illinois House of Representatives during the mid-2000s before she replaced Jesse Jackson Jr. in the United States Congress. Merkle is a Bourbonnais-based photographer who has owned a small business for 45 years.

As of Wednesday morning, Kelly's lead was at 183,816 votes to 43,875 for Merkle.

Kelly answered questions about her campaign from the Sun-Times, and sent Patch the following statement on why she is the best choice for the 2nd District, which covers a portion of the South Side of Chicago and the entire southeast suburbs in Cook, Will and Kankakee counties.

"Since becoming Congresswoman in the spring of 2013 I have been honored to represent the people of the 2nd District in our nation's Capitol. First and foremost I am proud of the quality constituent services that my office provides district residents. Secondly, I have lead the effort to reduce gun violence, provide access to affordable healthcare and strengthen our cyber security infrastructure. Lastly, I have worked across the aisle and have been an effective legislator who has passed three bills during the current session of Congress, it is my hope to pass a fourth before it comes to an end next month."

Kelly won the Democratic primary earlier this year against Marcus Lewis with nearly 84 percent of the vote.

"It has been a privilege to serve the people of the 2nd Congressional District and I look forward to return to as a member of the 116th United States Congress to continue the hard work that I began in five years ago," her statement continued.

READ MORE ON PATCH: Robin Kelly Faces David Merkle In Illinois' 2nd District Congressional Election

Merkle said it has been a goal of his to be elected to Congress since Middle School. He talked about implementing "life-changing" programs that haven't yet been offered in an interview with the Sun-Times.

Merkle overcame an early deficit against Patrick Harmon to win the Republican primary. John Morrow was also a candidate in the race.

He says he'll take "personal responsibility" to clean-up the district. Merkle is basing his campaign off principals shared in a number of programs he's listened to, included in them "Think and Grow" by Napolean Hill, "Strangest Secret" by Earl Nightengale, "Goals" by Zig Ziggler and "Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale.

"My whole campaign is about trying to help the people of my district not be controlled by politics that come from the city like an octopus' tentacles," he said. "The fact is we need to get more than 50 percent of the people to run America."

More About Kelly and Merkle

Read more about these candidates on their candidate pages:

• Robin Kelly
• David Merkle

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