9th Congressional District Election: Schakowsky Defeats Elleson

COOK COUNTY, IL — A conservative first-time candidate failed in his attempt to win one of the most liberal congressional districts in Illinois. Pastor John Elleson, an Arlington Heights Republican, challenged incumbent U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat, and hoped to improve on the two to one defeats she has handed previous opponents on a biennial basis for the past two decades. With about half the vote counted, Elleson was down by nearly 50 points.

The heavily Democratic 9th Congressional District includes all or parts of Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Mount Prospect, Niles, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Rosemont, Skokie, Wilmette, Winnetka and the Chicago neighborhoods of Edgewater and Uptown.

Elleson, 56, beat out three other candidates in a primary for the Republican nomination, earning more than 40 percent of the vote. His campaign has focused on bringing better paying jobs to the state, rebuilding public infrastructure, lowering taxes, balancing the budget and investing in a laser defense system.

Schakowsky, 74, an Evanston Democrat who has represented the northern Cook County district since 1998 after four terms as a state representative, is the chief deputy minority whip and the vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Since entering Congress, she has defeated every Republican opponent she has faced with no less than 66 percent of the vote.

Election results

Return to Patch Tuesday night for the latest vote tally. Subscribe to free News Alerts for election results. The polls open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m. NOTE: Tuesday's results are unofficial and do not include provisional and late absentee ballots.

According to campaign finance reports for the current election cycle, Schakowsky raised nearly $1.5 million and spent $1.36 million, as of mid-October. Elleson reported raising $47,507, spending nearly $40,000 of it by the end of September.

Both candidates have faced criticism for past legal entanglements involving their spouses. Elleson and his wife pleaded guilty to a first-degree theft charge in 2003 in Hawaii in connection with the misappropriation of nearly $50,000 and later ordered to turn over more than $250,000 after losing a 2010 lawsuit from a neighboring church. Schakowsky's husband Robert Creamer was indicted on 16 counts of bank fraud in 2004, eventually serving a five-month federal prison sentence in April 2006. And in 2016, after he was featured in an undercover video recorded by conservative activists, he resigned from his role working on behalf of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Schakowsky's only arrests have come while protesting on topics such as immigration reform and worker's rights, although her opponent in 2016 accused her of "incitement to violence" for demonstrating outside a Republican event.

The Daily Herald endorsed neither candidate, describing them both as likable but overly partisan. Schakowsky was endorsed by both the Chicago Tribune, which wrote: "One would think the 9th Congressional District, which includes parts of the North Shore, could put up strong Republican candidates, but maybe next time," and Chicago Sun-Times.

More About Elleson and Schakowsky

Read more about these candidates from their campaign websites:

• John Elleson
• Jan Schakowsky

More Illinois voting info: Everything To Know About The Illinois 2018 Midterm Elections