Eric Sorensen, a Democrat from Moline, retained his seat in Illinois’ most-watched congressional race — a battle with former judge Joe McGraw for the 17th District seat that has been solidly blue for all but two years since the 1980s.
Sorensen had 53.8% of the vote to McGraw’s 46.3%, with 88% of expected votes counted, according to the Associated Press, which declared the former Quad Cities meteorologist the winner shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday.
Sorensen had seen enough to claim victory late Tuesday night. He thanked his family, friends and supporters for landing him a second term in Congress. He said his job is to “keep you safe and prepared for what was ahead, and that’s what I’m doing in Congress.”
McGraw, who retired from 20 years on the bench to run for Congress, had left his watch party at Franchesco’s Ristorante on Rockford’s east side without conceding. There, State Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) was confident earlier in the evening even though he said the deck was stacked against them thanks to the last redistricting process.
“Just look at the way the district is drawn, it’s a piece of ****,” he said. “We’re not serving the constituents the way they should be served, because of the way they have these maps.”
Sorensen’s win in 2022 was narrow, so the race has garnered some national attention plus out-of-state fundraising as one of a handful of districts that could impact the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Illinois‘ delegation (in which Sorensen, 48, is the only openly gay member) leans heavily Democratic — 14 to 3 — by design as state Dems long holding a super majority in the General Assembly redrew district lines before the 2022 election to favor their own party.
Illinois’ 17th District is vast and includes some or all of 14 counties. It wraps around Chicago’s suburbs in a C-shape from Rockford in the northwest, touching the Quad Cities on the state’s western border, and runs through Downstate Galesburg, Pekin and Peoria before ending in Bloomington, a good two hours south of Chicago.
That means its residents live in college towns and urban areas as well as on farms.
Sorensen, who worked as a metorologist in TV markets in Rockford and the Quad Cities, outraised McGraw more than three to one. In one of the state’s most expensive races, McGraw has pulled in about $1.3 million, and as of Oct. 16 Federal Election Commission reports, still had $331,000 on hand; Sorensen collected about $4.7 million, and had $1.3 million remaining.
Both candidates said they want to focus on making life affordable for ordinary citizens.
For McGraw, 69, of Rockford, that means closing off immigration at the border with Mexico — as former President Donald Trump also wants to do — in addition to dealing with inflation and supporting manufacturing jobs.
“With the economy and the interest rates and the open border, Americans are struggling to survive and they just can’t make it,” he told WBEZ recently.
Sorensen, 48, pointed to his successes in getting local needs — like bridge repairs and water line replacements — funded by Congress because he’s worked across the aisle.
Mawa Iqbal and Alex Degman of WBEZ contributed to this story.