Quinn declares victory; Hynes won't concede
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| Catherine Cox, right, and Walton Rosquist, fill out the ballots at the VFW Post 5040, on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, in Woodstock. (Catalin Abagiu - cabagiu@nwherald.com) |
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CHICAGO (AP) – CHICAGO – Both the Democratic and Republican nominations for governor went down to the wire this morning, with no clear winner in either primary.
Gov. Pat Quinn declared victory in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, even though his challenger said the fight wasn’t over.
Quinn held a small lead over Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes early this morning with not all the votes counted. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, each man had about 50 percent of the vote. But Quinn, the embattled successor to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, told supporters he’d won the close race.
Minutes earlier, Hynes vowed to fight until every vote was counted. In a speech at about midnight, Hynes would not concede, saying all the votes had “to be counted.”
The Republican race was even closer, with Bill Brady holding the slightest of leads over Kirk Dillard, 20.6 percent to 20.4 percent. Andy McKenna was third with 19 percent.
Former Attorney General Jim Ryan, who when he entered the race was the presumptive favorite, likely was to finish fourth, with 16.9 percent of the vote.
Brady said early today he was confident he could hold onto a slim lead over his opponents, although Dillard predicted that he would win.
The state senator from Bloomington had a 1,600-vote lead over Dillard. He said a grass-roots campaign put him in position to win.
Brady said votes that hadn’t been counted were from friendly areas of the state or in Democratic strongholds that wouldn’t benefit his opponents.
Brady had 153,967 votes, or 20.5 percent of the total, with 99 percent of precincts counted. Dillard had 152,491, or 20.3 percent. Former GOP state chairman Andy McKenna had 142,843, or 19 percent.
The GOP hopes to win the governor’s mansion after years of turmoil under Democrats. First, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and kicked out of office on federal corruption charges, including allegations he tried to sell an appointment to President Obama’s former Senate seat. Then his successor got into a vicious primary battle.
Earlier in the day, Quinn sounded prepared for victory or defeat.
“There’s an old saying, ‘One day a peacock, the next day a featherduster,’ ” he said after walking to vote near his home. “I have to be ready for anything.”
Quinn had accused Hynes of ducking tough budget decisions, ignoring the desecration of human remains at a historic black cemetery, and trying to divide voters along racial lines. Hynes called Quinn indecisive and incompetent, charging that he also wants to raise taxes on middle-class voters.
Election officials said voter turnout was low across the state, and many voters seemed fed up with politicians.
“I’m tired of what’s going on, from the top to the bottom,” said Richard Saunders, 83, who cast a Republican ballot in the southwestern Illinois city of Troy. “I hope we can do something with our one little vote.”
The nominees who emerge from the bruising primary will fight for the chance to run a state so deep in debt it can’t pay bills on time and must consider service cuts, higher taxes or both.
Quinn sought a full term after being thrust into office a year ago when Blagojevich was expelled.
It initially appeared Quinn would easily win the Democratic nomination. But that was before The Associated Press disclosed his administration was quietly granting early release to some prison inmates, including violent offenders. It also was before Hynes introduced an ad featuring footage of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington – a revered figure to many black voters – harshly criticizing Quinn.
Quinn responded by linking Hynes, whose office regulates cemetery finances, to the scandal at a historic black cemetery outside Chicago where bodies were double-stacked in graves or dumped in weeds.
He alleged that Hynes ignored the atrocities at Burr Oak Cemetery, the resting place of civil rights-era lynching victim Emmett Till and other prominent African-Americans, because he lacks “human decency.”
