Douglas County solidly red despite national ‘blue wave’

DOUGLAS COUNTY CLERK Judi Pollock, top right, watches as ballots start to come in last Tuesday evening at the Douglas County courthouse. Photo by David Porter.

The blue wave that swept across the country in the midterms caused barely a ripple in Douglas County where voters delivered solid Republican majorities across the board. Still, there were pockets of change from the 2022 midterms.

Voter turnout last week was 53.79 percent while 2022 showed a slightly higher turnout at 56.69 percent. Some mail-in ballots could still come in but would not impact the results. Early voting and mail-in ballots were higher this cycle.

The governor’s race again pitted incumbent J.B. Pritzker against Republican Darren Bailey. While Pritzker won, Douglas County gave Bailey 70.09 percent of the vote to Pritzker’s 26.29. That’s a little bit of a swing toward the Democrat from 2022 when Bailey outscored Pritzker 73.37 percent to 23.88 percent.

In Moultrie County, Bailey’s count was even higher with 73.64 percent of the vote. In Piatt County, Bailey had 60.76 percent of the vote, and in Macon County, he garnered 54.93 percent.

There were small upticks this cycle for Democrats in the attorney general and secretary of state races as well in the Douglas County precincts.

In the 15th District congressional race, Mary Miller won re-election with 66.9 percent of the vote, which was just slightly lower than Douglas County’s numbers, which gave her 69.51 percent — a 5 point drop from 2022. In the U.S. Senate race, Douglas County voted 69.39 percent for Republican Don Tracy and 28.85 percent for Democrat Juliana Stratton, who won statewide.

Chris Miller won re-election for state representative in the 101st district over challenger Douglas Fagan with 64.5 percent of the vote. Miller had 70.93 percent of the vote in Douglas County.

There were no challengers to State Sen. Chapin Rose or 102nd District Rep. Adam Niemerg. Brad Holbrook won re-election in the 107th District House of Representatives.

There were no Democrats running for Douglas County local offices.

Douglas County solidly red despite national ‘blue wave’

Comments / 2