17th District IL House Election Results: Gong-Gershowitz Over Lee

COOK COUNTY, IL — Two attorneys squared off for the North Shore state representative seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Laura Fine, of Glenview, who is seeking to move up to the state Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Daniel Biss. Projected winner Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, of Glenview, is an attorney specializing in commercial anti-trust law who has also done pro bono immigration law work, including helping to establish the immigration law practice at the Highland Park-Highwood Legal Aid clinic. With about 85 percent of the vote tallied, Gong-Gershowitz led Wilmette Republican Peter Lee, a general practice and immigration attorney and the former vice president of the Korean-American Association, by a margin of greater than two to one – 68.8 percent to 31.2 percent.

The heavily Democratic district includes all or parts of Skokie, Evanston, Glenview, Wilmette, Golf, Morton Grove and Northbrook, and the campaigns two candidates seeking to represent it have vastly different financial resources.

Lee, 68, raised less than $10,000 in his entire campaign and spent less than $2,500 through the start of October. His largest contribution was a $5,600 gift from Jae Chul Chang. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary and has run a bare-bones campaign – its only spending last quarter was $750 for a website and $250 for printing expenses.

Gong-Gershowitz, 49, received the backing of Fine and most local Democratic party leadership in a contested five-way Democratic primary won by about 600 votes and reported more than $600,000 in donations from party political committees – much of it from funds controlled by Speaker Mike Madigan – between January and March alone. Since the end of September, she has received more than $93,400, mostly in the form of in-kind donations from the Democratic Party of Illinois.

Madigan's Shadow Looms Over North Shore State Rep Race »

Gong-Gershowitz was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. In campaign surveys, Gong-Gershowitz cited education funding, expansion of small business tax credits and working with local Jewish leaders to "promote a strong U.S. and Israel relationship and oppose the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement" as her biggest priorities, while Lee identified his biggest concerns as redistricting ("District 17 carves up Glenview and Northbrook into too many parts diluting voting power of Asian and other minorities,") merit-based admission policies and municipal opt-outs of minimum wage requirements.

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.

More About Gong-Gershowitz and Lee

Read more about these candidates on their candidate pages:

• Jennifer Gong-Gershowiz
• Peter Lee

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