Croke leads Democratic comptroller race as downstate voters dominate GOP primaries

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Capitol News Illinois) — As Gov. JB Pritzker’s hand-picked candidate cruised to a high-profile victory in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Tuesday night, another of his picks held a tight lead in the race for comptroller.

State Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, held a 24,000-vote lead with 83 percent of votes reporting as of 10 p.m. — a roughly 2.4% advantage over state Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago. The Associated Press had not called the race as of 10 p.m. We’ll update this story as results are finalized.

Croke has served in the Illinois General Assembly, representing Chicago’s North Side since 2021. She is a close ally to Gov. JB Pritzker, who endorsed her candidacy in early February. Her relationship with the governor goes back to 2017 when she worked with him on his first campaign and served on his transition team.

If the results hold, she’d face Bryan Drew, a southern Illinois attorney, in the general election. He ran uncontested in the GOP primary.

Previously, Croke was the deputy director at Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. In the Illinois House, Croke chairs the House Financial Institutions and Licensing Committee as well as the Tax Policy: Income Tax Subcommittee.

Croke said she supports a graduated income tax, which would require a constitutional amendment to implement. Though the comptroller’s office would play no formal role in passing such an amendment, and the last time it was on the ballot in 2020, voters rejected it.

On her website, Croke said she will follow outgoing Comptroller Susanna Mendoza’s lead in enforcing the Prevailing Wage Act, which requires state contractors working on public works projects to demonstrate they aren’t underpaying their workers. She will also allocate more resources to the Comptroller’s Prevailing Wage Office and work with the Department of Labor to ensure investigations are thorough and timely.

She was also endorsed by House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and the Cook County Democratic Party.

She was the top fundraiser in the primary.

Trailing her was Villa, who has served in the General Assembly since 2019 and is regarded as the most progressive of the candidates. She was the only candidate without a background in finance. Instead, she’s said her social work career gives her the insight to understand what it means to balance budgets with services people rely on.

Villa’s main focus is raising revenue for the state and suggested a state tax on digital advertising as well as trying again to pass a graduated income tax.

On her website, Villa says the comptroller’s office should “put our money where our values are” and voiced support for attracting jobs and investment in Illinois, ensuring contractors don’t have ties to Immigration Customs and Enforcement, or ICE, and for the Prevailing Wage Act, which requires state contractors working on public works projects to  demonstrate they aren’t underpaying their workers.

Villa was endorsed by Senate President Don Harmon, the Chicago Teachers Union and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont. She also had endorsements from U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez and outgoing U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.

Other candidates

Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim was the only candidate without legislative experience, but she has been the treasurer for Lake County since 2018, managing the money for the 3^rd largest county in Illinois with more than 700,000 residents. Kim was endorsed by outgoing comptroller Susana Mendoza but was sitting third in the race as of Tuesday evening with less than a quarter of the vote.

State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, has served in General Assembly since 2013, and she touted her work with House Democrats on the Illinois budget during the tenure of Gov. Bruce Rauner. A former Marine, Kifowit raised the least money of the candidates in the final quarter of 2025 and appeared slated to garner less than 10% of the vote.

Secretary of State

Diane Harris of Joliet appeared poised to carry virtually of the state’s counties outside of Cook and its collars as she won the race for secretary of state on the GOP side. She’ll try to deny incumbent Democrat Alexi Giannoulias a second term in the November general election.

Her opponent was Walter Adamczyk, a GOP committeeman for Chicago’s 29th Ward. He outpaced Harris in the city and surrounding suburbs. Like in the race for the GOP governor nomination, which was won by downstate farmer Darren Bailey, voters outside of the Chicago region appeared to carry the day.

Harris has said her goal is to reduce fees for state stickers, vehicle titles and other vehicle service fees. She also wants to advocate for new rules of the road to better protect drivers and expand access to fast-lane kiosks in areas where DMV offices have closed.

For more than 30 years, Harris worked at Commonwealth Edison. Harris also served as an elected precinct committee member, vice chair of the Joliet Township Republicans and is the former chair of the Illinois Center Right Coalition. She has run for other offices before, including state senate and Joliet mayor.

Adamczyk’s main focus was improving services for veterans and lowering hurdles for honorably discharged vets by eliminating fees for licenses and reducing wait-times at secretary of state facilities.

Treasurer

Max Solomon, who most recently ran for governor in 2024 among other unsuccessful attempts for public office over the years, ran as a write-in Republican candidate for Illinois Treasurer. That means his name didn’t show up on the GOP ballot, but voters could write it down to log their vote.

Solomon is running against incumbent Michael Frerichs, a Democrat who was elected to the office in 2014.

To be the nominee, Solomon would have to get 5,000 votes. The results likely won’t be known until tomorrow because the process for counting write-in candidates takes longer than traditional candidates.

Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray said election judges keep an eye out for write-ins as they count ballots after polls close. Write-ins are then set aside to make sure they’re qualified. Qualified write-ins are indicated on paperwork that then goes back to election authorities .

“Write-in candidates get reconfirmed internally by professional staff and usually released the next morning or next day,” he said.

If Solomon doesn’t receive 5,000 votes, the Republican State Central Committee can appoint someone to be the party’s general election nominee if that candidate meets standard ballot access requirements, including receiving 5,000 signatures.

Attorney general

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the incumbent Democrat, is seeking a third term as Illinois’ chief law enforcement officer. He and his GOP challenger, Bob Fioretti, a former Chicago alderman who ran unsuccessfully for Cook County state’s attorney in 2024, both ran uncontested.

Fioretti is a civil rights attorney and former alderman on the Chicago City Council. He switched to the Republican party “several years ago” because he said it better represents his values.

He said he wants to overturn or change the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, or SAFE-T Act.

When it comes to the federal government, Fioretti has said he would review state lawsuits against the Trump administration and withdraw from suits that impede law enforcement, target law-abiding gun owners and infringe on parental decision making.

Raoul was first elected AG in 2018. Before that, he served in the Illinois Senate, appointed to fill the seat left by Barack Obama, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

(Reporting by Nikoel Hytrek and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois)

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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