Illinois: Voters Head to Primary Polls to Replace Jackson

[brooklynite]

Source: Roll Call

Chicago-area voters head to the primary polls Tuesday to select former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr.’s successor.

Among the Democrats in the race, Cook County Chief Administrative Officer Robin Kelly is the candidate most political observers expect to win, but special elections are unpredictable. There are narrower paths to victory for former Rep. Debbie Halvorson and Alderman Anthony Beale.

Adding to the uncertainty in the 2nd District special election is a crowded lower tier of candidates. The winner of the Democratic primary is all but certain to win the general election in this heavily Democratic district.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg injected himself — and his money — into the race, with a multimillion-dollar negative ad campaign blitz against Halvorson. Halvorson countered Bloomberg’s ads by painting him as an outside interloper.

Read more: http://atr.rollcall.com/illinois-voters-head-to-primary-polls-to-replace-jackson/

[Tx4obama]

1. Robin Kelly is in the lead, so far with 57.84% of the vote

Primary-election results page, here: http://chicagoelections.com/race_results.php?id=32

Robin Kelly BIO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Kelly