As polls close in Illinois, here’s a recap of some of the races I’m watching there.
Interestingly enough, there isn’t an incumbent running this cycle in the state’s newly designed 3rd District. As a result, the Democratic field has a handful of contenders hoping to represent it. As we wrote earlier this year, this is a majority-minority district, giving Chicago two predominantly Latino seats for the first time. It’s likely then, that voters will elect a Hispanic representative to represent the district. But even though there are four Democrats vying for the seat, the two front-runners are the progressive state Rep. Delia Ramirez and the more moderate Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas. And, as is the case for most moderate versus progressive showdowns, the race will be viewed, in part, as a referendum on issues ranging from diversity of representation to the political ideologies that are dominating the Democratic Party.