By ELIZABETH DONALD
Illinois Correspondent
A hard night for Democrats didn’t leave Illinois untouched, despite its primarily Democratic leanings.
Nick Raftopoulos lost his bid to unseat state Rep. Amy Elik for the state House District 111 after more than a year of campaigning and working with local unions. Raftopoulos received 18,621 votes to Elik’s 29,840, according to final yet unofficial results.
Raftopoulos, 31, of Granite City is the current chair of the Southwestern Illinois College Board of Trustees and a data clerk at Gori Law Firm. His campaign kicked off last year, and he reportedly knocked on more than 16,000 doors, marched in parades, spoke at rallies and worked with Labor throughout his run. Raftopoulos was formerly part of AFSCME Local 799 and his wife, a teacher, is still an AFSCME member.
He ran arguing that Elik has not been responsive to her constituents, calling for representation that reflects working people’s concerns. But Republican candidates succeeded in Madison County in many seats, including the 111th.
“Unfortunately the cards did not play in our favor, but we had a good run in our efforts,” Raftopoulos said. He thanked his supporters, his family and his campaign team for the work they put in, and congratulated Democratic state Rep. Katie Stuart and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski on their reelections.
He said he was also grateful to the unions that supported him. “I received a lot of support from men and women in Labor and I can’t think them enough for the support they gave me,” Raftopoulos said. “Without it, I wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
What’s next for him? Raftopoulos said he was not sure what his next steps would be, but he planned to spend some time with his family and decide at a later date if he will run again.
MADISON COUNTY
In other races, Madison County remained solidly red, which is historically a turnaround for the county that was controlled by Democrats from World War II until 2016. All the Democrats running for county board seats were defeated, in one case by only 13 votes. No Democrats ran for the county-wide offices, including chairman, circuit clerk and state’s attorney.
“It was a gut punch,” said Madison County Democratic Party Chair Debbie Ming-Mendoza. “It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. But this morning the sun came out, and I realized Congresswoman Budzinski and state Representatives Stuart and Hoffman will be returning to continue the good works for our country and state. I can’t waste any time feeling sorry for ourselves. We have another election in April 2025 to prepare for. We will never give up the fight to elect the best qualified candidates for our county.”
Stuart and Budzinski fended off challengers by solid margins. Budzinski defeated Republican Joshua Loyd 181,552 to 133,871, and Stuart held off Republican Jay Keeven 27,304 to 23,064.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY
In St. Clair County, union-backed former state Rep. LaToya Greenwood (D-East St. Louis) failed to win back her seat in the Illinois House District 114 from Republican incumbent Kevin Schmidt, who had unseated her in 2022 by only 2,000 votes. The margin was slightly narrower this time, with 22,670 votes to Greenwood’s 20,825.
Before Schmidt, Black Democrats from East St. Louis had held the 114th District seat for 47 consecutive years, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost also retained his seat against Democrat Brian Roberts by more than 150,00 votes.
STATEWIDE ISSUES
All three statewide advisories passed, including creating a new tax bracket with three percent additional tax on incomes over $1 million. Madison County also passed the advisory question calling for southern Illinois counties to secede from the state of Illinois and form their own state, making it the first suburban county to do so.
