SPRINGFIELD – Early voting hours and locations greatly expanded across the state this week as the campaign season entered its final two-week stretch. Polling places opened across the city of Chicago as well. Information on early voting for each local election authority can be found on the Illinois State Board of Elections website here, or by visiting…
SPRINGFIELD — In Illinois’ newly redrawn 15th congressional district, Congresswoman Mary Miller is up for re-election. Miller topped fellow incumbent Rodney Davis in the Republican primary in June. Miller will face Democratic challenger Paul Lange, a former precinct committeeman and commodities broker from Quincy, Illinois, in the November midterm election. Lange spoke to Illinois Newsroom’s…
CHAMPAIGN — Champaign restauranteur Thad Morrow’s first industry job was at Le Petit Café in Bloomington, Indiana. He was an undergraduate at Indiana University and told the owners that he’d work for free for two weeks. They agreed. “I learned how to cook a few French things, and then, off to the races,” remembered Morrow,…
NORMAL — Bloomington-Normal’s new Illinois House district – the 91st – has become one of the most competitive and costliest in modern history. Democrat Sharon Chung and Republican Scott Preston and the people backing them have already spent more than a million dollars to win Nov. 8 – in a McLean County that some see…
Updated October 23, 2022 at 10:54 AM ET José Albornoz has only been in the U.S. for a few weeks, but things have been happening fast. He’s already traveled across the country twice, landing in Montana, where a friend got him a job in construction. And he’s learned a few things about the immigration system…
Both congressional candidates in Illinois’ 13th district — Republican Regan Deering and Democrat Nikki Budzinski — say they support lowering prescription prices and capping the cost of insulin. But they disagree on a new federal law meant to achieve those goals. Deering opposes the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Biden signed in August. Budzinski…
It was the second and final debate between the two gubernatorial hopefuls Tuesday night, and both came prepared for combat, ready to dish it out — and not take any of the other’s jabs lying down. CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker blasted his Republican challenger as an “extremist” and a “threat to democracy” who “shouldn’t…
CHICAGO — As states around the country adopt stricter restrictions on abortion with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, more than half of Illinois voters say abortion should remain legal here, according to a new WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times Poll. About 52% of likely voters polled said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, with…
SPRINGFIELD – Much of the talk from supporters of the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform has in recent days centered on how it will or won’t be amended before Jan. 1, when cash bail will be abolished in Illinois as part of a provision known as the Pretrial Fairness Act. Everyone from Gov. JB Pritzker to…
URBANA — Congresswoman Robin Kelly is up for re-election in Illinois’ 2nd congressional district. She’s running against Republican challenger Thomas Lynch. Illinois Newsroom’s Harrison Malkin spoke with Kelly about ways to curb gun violence, the Green New Deal, and a range of other policy issues. Malkin: First, I wanted to ask you a little bit…
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker stirred political intrigue this summer with signals he was mulling a run for president in 2024, but Illinois voters appear to have some free, blunt advice for him: Don’t do it. That’s the unmistakable takeaway from a new WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times Poll that asked if the first-term billionaire chief executive ought to consider…
CHICAGO — Democrats appear in little danger of losing control of statewide offices three weeks from now, with the party’s candidates for Illinois secretary of state, attorney general, comptroller and treasurer all holding sizable leads over their Republican rivals in a new WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times Poll. In two of those races, Democrats hold double-digit advantages over…
NORTHBROOK — On a Saturday a few weeks before next month’s election, almost all of the biggest names in Illinois politics went to a hotel ballroom in Northbrook for a luncheon organized by the Northfield Township Democrats. Among the top-of-the-ticket candidates at that event in the northern suburbs of Chicago were Cook County Board President…
CHICAGO — Democratic incumbents Gov. JB Pritzker and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth are leading their opponents by double digits, with the governor also faring better than Republican candidate Darren Bailey on his own turf in downstate Illinois, a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times poll found. The findings ahead of the Nov. 8 election — and less than a…
Updated October 15, 2022 at 11:31 AM ET A beta version of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness application is now open — the first time borrowers have been able to apply for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. The early opening is a test to help the Education Department find problems with the site before…