Illinois Election Results 2010: Governor Pat Quinn’s Claim on Victory Strengthens

(Chicago, IL) – November 3, 2010. With 99% of the precincts counted and with approximately 15,000 absentee ballots in Cook County and Chicago yet to be counted, Governor Pat Quinn’s current 8,349 edge will likely provide sufficient buffer to claim victory in the race against State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).

“The people have won and I believe we have won,” Quinn told supporters at approximately 1 a.m. at Chicago’s Hotel Allegro. “We know there are more votes to be counted, but we are…ahead.”

And the absentee ballots will almost seal Quinn’s narrow victory.

According to Chicago Tribune reporters David Heinzmann and David Kidwell wrote today, “…[T]he outstanding ballots in Chicago and Cook County are not likely to break in Brady’s favor.”

Cook County and Chicago election officials may not start counting those ballots until Thursday.

For the Chicago ballots counted on Tuesday, Quinn took the lion’s share–the key to his likely victory–nearly equaling Rod Blagojevich‘s 2006 results. Of the 658,733 votes cast in Chicago, Quinn took 499,939 votes or 75.3% to Brady’s 115,958 or 17.4%. Green Party candidate Rich Whitney won 16,960 votes or 2.56% and independent and heavy spender Scott Lee Cohen picked up 25,876 or 3.9%.

Compared to 2006, in which 656,540 votes were cast, Brady’s Chicago numbers slightly outperformed then GOP nominee Judy Baar Topinka. Topinka who won 99,732 or 15.3%. The ticket of Blagojevich and Quinn captured 504,457 votes or 77.3%.

However, it was Whitney who suffered the greatest reversal in his Chicago tally from 2006. He snagged 47,696 votes or 7.32%. The Greens will now lose its major party status in Illinois as a result of its poor showing.

Meanwhile, Brady is not conceding. The Bloomington Republican just announced that he expects the vote tabulation to be a “30-day” process. Brady’s running mate, Jason Plummer, posted a message on his Facebook page echoing the top of the ticket.

“We are locked in a very close race and we are still waiting for all the ballots to be counted.”

In a statement from Quinn campaign spokesperson Mica Matsoff:

“The Quinn/Simon campaign wants every vote to be counted. We want to make sure the voice of every voter in the State of Illinois is duly counted and heard. The ballots left to be counted appear mostly to come from Cook County, where the Governor held a large margin over Senator Brady. We expect to hold our lead, and may increase it.  We do not see a path to victory for Bill Brady.

As Gov. Quinn said last night, “the people have won and I we believe we won…We know there are more votes to be counted, but we are ahead.” We expect to hold that lead, and expect that Pat Quinn will continue to be our Governor.”

He’s right.