Illinois election live updates: Get the latest news here – Chicago Tribune

As the country waited to hear who won the vote in the presidential election in key states, Illinois and Chicago-area voters had few surprises Tuesday night and into Wednesday, though some races and ballot measures are still undecided.

Fresh off spending $58 million of his fortune in a losing effort to pass a graduated-rate income tax, a frustrated Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday said painful budget cuts are coming and suggested an attempt to raise taxes could come as soon as two weeks.

Meanwhile, Republican Jim Oberweis claimed victory in the 14th Congressional District campaign against first-term Rep. Lauren Underwood. But with an undetermined number of mail-in votes still to be counted, the incumbent Democrat said it is premature for anyone to declare victory.

Also on Wednesday, freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten declared victory over Republican challenger Jeanne Ives in a west and northwest suburban congressional race. Ives conceded defeat.

Heres where key races in Illinois stand Wednesday evening:

Here are the latest election updates from across the Chicago area and Illinois:

7:50 p.m.: Tense moments in the Loop when some protesters walk down State Street

As a rally and march ended in the Loop, a small group of about a hundred people remained at Daley Plaza and got into a tense argument with police officers when they tried to walk down the middle of State Street.

Several protesters yelled at the police while screaming obscenities about President Trump and Vice President Pence.

Dozens of officers on bicycles surrounded the group, and the demonstrators were allowed to gather on the sidewalk near Macys. No arrests were reported as of 7:45 p.m.

7:25 p.m.: Still out of power, Illinois GOP rides voter dissatisfaction with state government to deal Pritzker, Madigan defeats

Heading into Tuesday, some Illinois Republicans privately feared Democrats would wipe them out as the states voters repudiated four years of President Donald Trump.

Instead, voters delivered a repudiation of Illinois government, spurred by amped-up Trump supporters, a billionaire benefactor, concern over high taxes, a House speaker caught up in a federal investigation and recently reinstituted pandemic restrictions due to renewed cases of COVID-19.

It was a confluence of factors and timing that may serve as a warning shot as Democratic efforts to grow into an even bigger political force in Illinois stalled out. Sure, Democrats still control Springfield, but a state GOP thats known mostly failure for nearly 20 years was able to deal Gov. J.B. Pritzker and House Speaker Michael Madigan stinging defeats.

7 p.m.: Voters in suburbs show support at polls for recreational marijuana sales.

The area they live in was once a bastion of conservatism, but nearly two-thirds of voters in northwest suburban Mount Prospect on Tuesday supported allowing marijuana sales in the village.

The village was one of six suburbs along with Batavia, Glen Ellyn, Elk Grove Village, Park Ridge and Wilmette where advisory referendums showed majority support for allowing sales. The one exception was west suburban Western Springs, where 60% of voters rejected the idea.

6:45 p.m.: On their way from Daley Plaza to Grant Park, protesters chant, HEY HEY! HO HO! DONALD TRUMP HAS GO TO GO!

Hundreds of protesters chanted and played music as they marched through the Loop Wednesday night, opposed to Republican efforts to stop the counting of votes in the presidential election.

HEY HEY! HO HO! DONALD TRUMP HAS GO TO GO! marchers chanted.

Two women on a float overlooking Daley Plaza shouted, HEY HEY! HO HO! TRUMP AND PENCE HAS GOT TO GO!Other chants included, WHOSE GOT THE POWER?! WEVE GOT THE POWER!

The march began east from the Daley Center along Washington Street to Michigan Avenue, then headed north on Michigan to Wacker Drive. From there, the marchers walked west to LaSalle Street, south along LaSalle to Jackson Boulevard, then east along Jackson to Grant Park.

Chicago police officers on foot, bicycles and in cars monitored the march as it moved slowly through the Loop.

At Daley Plaza, Deborah Howell was promoting wage equality for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. But she acknowledged the rally during an historic week like this was a great opportunity to fight for other causes.

Too many homeless. Too many, you know, young women out here and their kids, theyre fighting to get child support, said Howell. Too many juveniles locked up. And then with this virus, thats really the problem. Weve got young kids in jail getting it because somebody (transmitted it) to the jail.

Like many Americans, Howell was anxious about the final results, a full day since most polls closed.

Its taking too long! she said with a chuckle. Im waiting!

Asked whether she supports one candidate over the other, she replied, "Not Trump. No, I cant do it. How did that man become president the way he talks to people. We are not idiots.

6:40 p .m.: Loop march: Cowbells, the Doobie Brothers and the need to witness history

To the sound of cowbells and the Doobie Brothers' Taking it to the Streets, a diverse crowd of more than 200 protesters stepped off from Daley Plaza and circled the Loop Wednesday night before ending the march in Grant Park, as Chicago police officers stood along boarded up shops on Michigan Avenue.

Speakers at the peaceful event addressed many the issues that defined the presidential campaign, including systemic racism, police brutality and President Trumps handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The stakes, they said, were too high to allow Trump to halt the counting of legally cast ballots, as his campaign has done in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

We wont stop until every vote is counted, said Erica Bland-Durosinmi, executive vice-president of SEIU healthcare.

Adrian Madison, 35, and her friend, a first-time voter, said they came to the demonstration from the South Side to show their support for Democratic challenger Joe Biden and to be with others as the votes are tallied into the night.

This is history, Madison said. We are citizens. We have a right to protest to make our voices heard.

Sammy Lines, 72, a volunteer with the group RefuseFacism said shes been waiting four years for a new president. She sighed when asked about the number of voters who turned out to support Trumps re-election bid.

He needs to lose she said. He needs to be out of office. He needs to be out in of the White House.

She hoped there would be clearer results nearly 24 hours after polls closed, but understood that ballots cast early or by mail take time to be counted.

Just before she spoke, several rows of demonstrators marched into the plaza, banging on drums and chanting Trump, Pence out now!

Wednesdays rally was a far cry from one that took place the day after 2016s election, when thousands of protesters converged on Trump Tower, shouting Not my president.

Stacy St. Clair, Elyssa Cherney, Jeremy Gorner

6:25 p.m.: A peaceful crowd marches through the Loop to demand every vote be counted

As the nation awaited the final results of the presidential election, Englewood resident Shasta Jones stood among a few hundred people in Daley Plaza Wednesday night, holding up a protest sign against Republican efforts to stop the vote count before Democratic challenger can clinch a win.

Its the whole reason Im here, said Jones, standing with hundreds of face masked protesters on an unseasonably warm November night in the Loop. "Im a mother and this situation weighs heavy on me. And at the same time, it also drives me.

I want my children to be safe. I want them to be healthy. I want a future for them thats fair, she said.

6:05 p.m.: Pritzker warns there will be cuts, and they will be painful after graduated-rate income tax proposal fails at the ballot box

Fresh off spending $58 million of his fortune in a losing effort to pass a graduated-rate income tax, a frustrated Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday said painful budget cuts are coming and suggested an attempt to raise taxes could come as soon as two weeks.

Pritzker lashed out at Republicans, business groups and Ken Griffin, Illinois' richest man, accusing opponents of distorting the truth about what the amendment would have done.

There will be cuts, and they will be painful, Pritzker said Wednesday at his daily coronavirus briefing. And the worst thing is, the same billionaires who lied to you about the fair tax are more than happy to hurt our public schools, shake the foundations of our cities, and diminish our state. Maybe because they think it wont hurt them.

Now Pritzker, the billionaire Hyatt Hotels heir who made a graduated income tax the centerpiece of his campaign for governor, and lawmakers are left with a limited menu of politically perilous options to stabilize the states chronically precarious finances. Their main choices: raise taxes on everyone, regardless of income; make significant cuts to spending on programs like education and social services; or both.

5:32 p.m.: Oberweis claims victory, but Underwood says thousands of votes remain uncounted in razor-thin 14th District race

With a razor-thin lead, Republican Jim Oberweis claimed victory Wednesday in the 14th Congressional District campaign against first-term Rep. Lauren Underwood.

But with an undetermined number of mail-in votes still to be counted, the incumbent Democrat said it is premature for anyone to declare victory. The two candidates are separated by a mere 895 votes after the tallies of the votes received and counted so far, according to unofficial results.

4:11 p.m.: Graduated income tax amendment voted down across the state

In order to become law, J.B. Pritzkers proposed graduated income tax amendment needed either 60% support among those voting directly on the question or more than 50% support of those voting in the election.

Unofficial voting totals show it falling short on both measures.

Voters across Illinois voted down the amendment, according to Associated Press data, with the exception of Cook County which was 62.3% for. Champaign County was a tie.

Jonathon Berlin and Jemal R. Brinson

1:16 p.m.: After winning second term, Democratic Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx thanks supporters and promises to continue reform efforts

Democratic Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx on Wednesday thanked supporters for delivering her a second term and promised to continue criminal justice reform efforts aimed at keeping communities safe.

Foxx took a reelection victory lap on Wednesday, with a handful of media interviews, after withstanding a challenge from Republican former Cook County Judge Pat OBrien.

She dismissed criticism over this years rising violent crime and her offices handling of the Jussie Smollett case, saying in an interview with WGN-TV that while her office could have better handled the former Empire actors case, voters trusted her to deliver a criminal justice system that serves the everyday citizen and not just celebrities. She defended her offices backing of sweeping bail reforms by pointing out violent crime went down during the first three years of her term.

No question 2020 has presented a number of challenges, but we cant be overly simplistic and try to find a singular source when we know that this is a complicated issue, Foxx said.

11:01 a.m.: DuPage still has 30,000 mail-in ballots outstanding, but in-person votes counted

DuPage County has about 2,500 provisional ballots that are being processed Wednesday, Nov. 4, while all early voting and ballots cast on Election Day have been counted, unless there was a question and the ballot became provisional.

There might be a small number of absentee ballots, but most people who did not want to vote in person used a mail-in ballot, as opposed to absentee this year.

Patrick Bond, special counsel to the DuPage County election division, said those ballots should be included in vote totals by 4 p.m. Wednesday.

However, the county has until Nov. 14 to process all the provisional ballots.

Ballots mailed in must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by the county by Nov. 10.

There are nearly 30,000 mail-in ballots that have not been returned yet.

10:21 a.m.: Chicago-area voters' Wednesday morning mood: From optimism to nerves to 'grim forebearance

The poll numbers didnt look great for President Donald Trump as Election Day approached, but a different metric gave Frank Adams hope: Every weekend, the pro-Trump car rallies he helped to organize in the Chicago suburbs grew larger.

So with the presidential election still undecided Wednesday morning, Adams, a retired businessman who lives in Warrenville, said hes optimistic and praying that Trump will prevail.

I feel, and a lot of my friends do, too, that the Republicans are the party for the American people, he said. They put America first. And I think Americans are tired of the politicians who have been in the system for life and gotten rich off our tax dollars.

Meanwhile, Mawuli Agbefe, a debate coach at Evanston Township High School, is cautiously confident Joe Biden will edge out Trump when all the votes are counted.

I think Biden will actually win, but it is surprising that so many people are supporting Trump in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. For people to say, Yeah, this is the guy who should be leading the country for another four years, is a little alarming.

9:34 a.m.: Pritzker-funded group concedes defeat on Illinois graduated income tax amendment, throwing future of state finances in doubt

The group backed by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker to pitch his proposal to enact a graduates state income tax in Illinois acknowledged the constitutional amendments defeat Wednesday and warned of a financial morass as a result of the rejection of the proposed constitutional amendment.

We are undoubtedly disappointed with this result but are proud of the millions of Illinoisans who cast their ballots in support of tax fairness in this election, said Quentin Fulks, chair of the Pritzker-funded Vote Yes for Fairness group.

Now lawmakers must address a multi-billion dollar budget gap without the ability to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share. Fair Tax opponents must answer for whatever comes next, Fulks said, pointing the finger at Republican legislators and their billionaire allies who opposed it.

9:15 a.m.: Lightfoot heartened by Chicagos reaction while waiting for outcome of presidential race

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who deployed extra police officers and city trucks around Chicago in case of riots and looting, released a statement mid-morning praising the city for remaining peaceful as presidential election votes come in.

As we anxiously await the outcome of the presidential and other races, I am heartened that our city remains calm and peaceful. This election has generated a lot of emotions on all sides. There will be a lot of chatter until the election results are verified, but it is crucial for us as a city to be focused and diligent to be sure, but also calm and peaceful, Lightfoot said. Lets channel our emotions into a productive expression of our First Amendment rights. No matter the outcome, we will get through this by remaining together, as neighbors who need each other and love our great city and country.

Lightfoot also praised Chicagos Board of Elections and voters for a near-historic turnout.

We have much to be proud of as a city, she said.

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Illinois election live updates: Get the latest news here - Chicago Tribune