Incumbent state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview) won her fourth consecutive race for the 17th district of the Illinois House of Representatives with 67.3% of the votes, according to the Associated Press, which called the race at 7:52 p.m.

Gong-Gershowitz wrote on her campaign website that she supports policies that create positive economic development including creating well-paying jobs while also directing financial resources towards public education.

She also wrote that she wants to retain environmental legislation and expand protections for victims of gender-based persecution and immigrant families.

Gong-Gershowitz’s Republican challenger, Jim Geldermann, ran on a platform of cultural reform, calling for “dismantling the Democrats’ supermajority” and educational reform. However, this platform failed to supply him with the support necessary to win.

“We have a lot of good lessons learned from the race,” Geldermann said. “(I’m) looking forward to either sharing the knowledge or using the knowledge again in another race.”

Before being elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, Gong-Gershowitz worked as an immigration lawyer, defending unaccompanied immigrant children, domestic violence survivors and victims of child trafficking.

In 2018, Gong-Gershowitz was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. During her tenure, she has served on the Judiciary Civil, Higher Education and Immigration & Human Rights committees, among other committees, within the House.

For her upcoming term, Gong-Gershowitz wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that a top priority of hers is to address the ongoing gun violence epidemic in the 17th district and in Illinois at large. Other issues she wants to address include increasing environmental protections and addressing the new dangers posed by artificial intelligence.

Though Geldermann lost the election, he said found a sense of hope among Republicans and non-democrats about the possibility of a Republican voice in the northern suburbs of Illinois. 

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