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Democrats in the General Assembly, meanwhile, had eyed a handful of seats in each chamber that they’d hoped could be swept up in a Blue Wave. They won them and then some, potentially felling both a House GOP assistant minority leader and the party’s conference chair. Suburban lawmakers who’d once been viewed as safe were also swept up in the wave, and a 30-year incumbent from Rockford was behind in a tight race that was still too close to call.

With three Senate races and seven House contests still not called as of Wednesday morning, the Democrats had grown their ranks to 44 in the Senate, up from 40, and 80 in the House, up from 78. The margins could grow as high as 46-13 in the Senate and 85-33 in the House ­­— a striking expansion of power, even on a map that was drawn to keep the General Assembly deeply blue. […]

The 33rd District currently held by popular outgoing Republican Sen. Don DeWitte of St. Charles is going blue. Michele Clark, of Algonquin, beat fellow first-time candidate Danielle Penman, R-St. Charles, by nearly 25 points.

Democratic Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Inverness, won the only race that featured two incumbent lawmakers, rising from the House to the Senate. She ousted incumbent Sen. Darby Hills, R-Barrington Hills, by about 14 points.

Moderate Republican Sen. Seth Lewis, R-Bartlett, was also a casualty of the Blue Wave in a suburban district, losing to challenger Ben McAdams by over 9 points. Sen. Craig Wilcox, another suburban incumbent, trailed Democratic challenger Karen Battaglia by more than 5 points in a surprise to many observers.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | New IHSA bylaw proposals would put public and private schools in separate state tournaments: Until now, the dispute between public and private schools over competitive balance played out in press conferences and postgame interviews. Mount Carmel football coach Jordan Lynch and Batavia football coach Dennis Piron both regularly offered juicy quotes that presented their sides of the issue. The time for empty talk has passed. Over the next six weeks, schools across the state will discuss several possible rule changes and state tournament format tweaks that could change the landscape of high school sports in Illinois.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Block Club | Time Is Running Out For THC Beverages In Illinois, And Breweries Are Selling Them Fast: “It will completely eliminate the THC beverage category, which many consumers have safely integrated into their routines,” said Jonathan Fritz, co-founder of Hopewell Brewing Co., where THC drinks made up 20-25 percent of Hopewell’s business. “It also creates major disruption for those who have been responsibly producing and selling these products while advocating for regulation over prohibition. Our state legislators have failed us on this issue, and this decision will directly impact our business and many others.”

* Crain’s | Pritzker moves quickly to put his stamp on Democrats’ national agenda: Having spent millions helping Democrats win control of Congress, Pritzker is now seeking to turn that political investment into influence over the party’s legislative agenda — a move that could also bolster his standing as a potential presidential contender in 2028. Among his top priorities are attempting to roll back, or at least blunt the impacts, of the Trump tax and spending cuts that are set to take effect, such as reductions in Medicaid and food-assistance benefits known as SNAP, and restoring credits to reduce the cost of health insurance on the public exchange.

* Daily Herald | Syed rides scooter, blue wave to win in Illinois Senate District 26: “I’m committed to doing that work in the state Senate to make it easier for families in our community,” Syed added, citing lowering prescription drug costs and expanding insurance coverage for preventive health care as some of her priorities. […] In a statement issued Tuesday night, Hills thanked the people of the 26th District for allowing her to serve them, as well as her family, friends and those who gave their time or donated to her campaign.

* Illinois Times | A strong showing for Doris Turner: Turner easily defeated Republican Frank Lesko, the Sangamon County recorder, to retain her seat representing the 48th Senate District, which stretches from Springfield to Decatur and includes portions of Sangamon, Macon and Christian counties. Associated Press results showed Turner with 58.9% of the votes cast to Lesko’s 41.1%. Lesko did slightly better in Sangamon County, garnering just over 40% of the votes with 100% of precincts reporting.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Following CPS board election, Mayor Brandon Johnson plants flag against school closures: “I can promise you this: the city of Chicago will make a considerable amount of noise if they’re proposing to close schools,” Johnson said in an interview with the Tribune. “I took an arrest standing up for our neighborhood schools and went on a hunger strike. … There’s a long legacy of people standing up against corporate control over our schools, so I fully anticipate that voices will continue to rise up.”

* WTTW | Chicago Appears Set for Divided Board of Education After Historic Election: Three CTU-endorsed incumbents — Ed Bannon (District 1A), Aaron “Jitu” Brown (District 5A) and Anusha Thotakura (District 6A) — appear to have lost their seats, based on unofficial results, while another union-backed candidate, Jason Dónes (District 3B), was holding a slim lead over incumbent Carlos A. Rivas Jr. on Wednesday morning. Bannon and Thotakura were both appointed to their seats by Johnson — himself a former teacher and union organizer who was swept into office thanks in part to the CTU’s support — while Brown ran unopposed in his 2024 election.

* Block Club | Neighbors Signal Strong Support For Limiting New Airbnbs In Logan Square, Humboldt Park: About 74 percent of ward constituents voted yes to the non-binding referendum question, compared to about 26 percent of voters who voted no, with all but one precinct reporting results, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. A total of 10,865 people voted on the question, with 8,053 voting yes and 2,812 voting no as of Wednesday morning.

* Block Club | These Chicago Politicians Just Won Reelection. Now They Want Your Vote For Mayor: lexi Giannoulias has won reelection to serve another term as the Illinois Secretary of State, a widely expected result in deep-blue Illinois. But whether Giannoulias will serve out all four years in office remains a very open question. Like several other longtime politicians who won reelection to their various positions on Tuesday, he’s in the middle of an increasingly fierce campaign for Chicago mayor — and is widely seen as one of the frontrunners.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Injustice Watch | All Cook County circuit judges on track to win retention, but three face narrow margins: It appears that Smith, Walowski, and Murphy all owe their likely retention to suburban voters. All appeared to fall below the 60% vote threshold needed among city voters as of Wednesday morning, while in the suburbs, with all precincts reporting, all three won comfortably. Results are subject to change as Chicago election officials continue to tabulate votes. Final totals may not be known for days or weeks.

* Daily Herald | Democrat Coolidge wins DuPage sheriff contest: Both candidates decided to run after James Mendrick chose not to seek a third term as sheriff. Instead, he made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination for governor. […] During the campaign, Coolidge said he would work to improve trust between the community and law enforcement. He also would ensure that license-plate reader technology is used responsibly. He said the department needs adequate resources and must work to improve staffing. In addition, he said he supports offering mental health assistance for people experiencing a crisis, “not just handcuffs.”

* Daily Herald | Democrat Johnson victorious in Kane County sheriff election: Russell was critical of Johnson’s refusal to publicly announce Hain’s absence. He said that while the public did not need to know the medical details of Hain’s condition, the people deserved to know the man they had elected was not on the job. Johnson said running the office the last six months had shown she had the leadership skills for the job. She said she followed advice from Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser regarding what could be said about Hain’s absence.

*** Downstate ***

* Illinois Times | Springfield landlord registry referendum passes overwhelmingly: Advocates collected more than 5,000 signatures to get the advisory referendum on the November ballot after an attempt to get the City Council to approve placing a ballot referendum for voters to weigh in failed. Supporters of the referendum overcame pushback from landlords who said the creation of a landlord registry would raise the rents and taxes. Ultimately, the measure passed with 29,077 votes for it and 12,663 against it.

* Daily Egyptian | Burns, Byrd retain seats in Jackson County; Reed wins judge race: Democrat incumbent Robert “Bob” Burns defeated Republican challenger Jay Wittenborn for the Jackson County Sheriff’s seat 9,945 to 7,728. Frank L. Byrd, also a democrat incumbent, defeated republican challenger Doug Gill 10,711 to 7,048 to retain his seat as the Jackson County Clerk.

* WCIA | $192M for Champaign School District improvements approved by voters: The unofficial results show 66.5% of Champaign County voted in favor of the referendum, aimed to rebuild Franklin Middle School and make upgrades to other schools in the district.

*** National ***

* The Atlantic | Silicon Valley’s Very Bad Night: Residents of at least 10 states voted on dozens of proposals to restrict data-center development—local moratoriums, new zoning regulations—and several towns recalled mayors accused of putting the interests of data-center companies over those of constituents. Democratic candidates in some of the most consequential Senate races, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Sherrod Brown in Ohio, made AI and data-center regulation central to their campaigns. In California, the home of Silicon Valley, residents voted on a proposed “billionaire tax” that tech executives came out in droves to oppose.

* Indiana Capital Chronicle | Dem challenger defeats Indiana House GOP leader in stunning upset: House District 37 covers parts of Hamilton County. It’s among the more than a dozen seats to flip for Democrats so far, shattering the GOP’s 14-year supermajority in the House.