(WBBM NEWSRADIO) - In a year when Republican candidates nationwide were expected to benefit from voter dissatisfaction with the economy and the way the Country is going, Illinois Republicans lost ground in races here.
Democrats not only will retain their veto proof majorities in the Illinois House and Senate but will likely expand them. And, WBBM Political Analyst Andy Shaw noted Democrats will increase their majority on the Illinois Supreme Court, when they feared they would lose control in two races.
“In one of the races I think it was, Mark Curran turns out to be again too conservative for a lot of moderates and independents, and his stance on choice, turned off a lot of people who at least thought that women should have the right to go in whatever direction they wanted to,” Shaw said. “ I think again, it was the wrong candidates in some cases. The other race was much tighter, but in both cases you had Republicans who were probably a little out of step with the moderate tone of Illinois’ Republican party."
Heather Cherone, Political Reporter for WTTW, Channel 11, said the results of last week’s elections shows that—especially when it comes to statewide office—Illinois Republicans need a new direction.
“They have to do something to appeal to more voters because the people who voted for Darren Bailey are just not a majority in Illinois,” Cherone noted.
Predictions were that Democrats would lose as many as 50 seats in the House, and could lose the Senate. But the results were far from that decisive. So, who got it wrong, the political prognosticators or the campaign strategists?
Cherone and Shaw said all of them.
“I think that a lot analysts and pundits underestimated the impact that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was going to have on the number of women who turned out to vote for Democrats. And, I think that there was a lack of understanding at just how worried people are about the fate of American democracy,” said Cherone.
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Shaw believes the influx of younger voters with more left-leaning ideologies was also a factor.
“The second thing is I think the Republicans, as they did here in Illinois, skewed too far right with a lot of their candidates,” Shaw said.
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