* Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch faces revolt as 26 Democrats call for new leadership after Benton scandal. Tribune…

- Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s hold on power has been thrown into doubt after 26 current and incoming Democratic lawmakers, nearly a third of his caucus, called for new leadership following months of criticism over his handling of sexual harassment allegations and his leadership style.
-In a brief statement issued late last night, the current and incoming House members said that over the past few months they “have grown convinced that the House Democratic Caucus needs new leadership.”
- Welch was not immediately available for comment.

* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Rock River Current | Syverson holds lead in tight race, waits for final mail-in votes to be counted: Syverson gathered 50.89% of the vote to lead Democratic Party challenger Sarah Mertens with all precincts reporting on Election Night, according to unofficial results. A total of 1,517 votes separated the candidates at the end of Election Night. That lead shrunk to 1,452 by the end of Wednesday. It’s the closest race by percentage of any of the Rockford-area contests for a seat in Springfield.

* Daily Herald | Last Republicans standing: How the Trump effect grew Dems suburban footprint, devastated GOP: “I believe (voters) were thinking about Donald Trump and the White House,” said state Sen. Seth Lewis, a moderate Republican from Bartlett who lost Tuesday to Democrat Ben McAdams. “And that’s all the majority was thinking about, and they took it out on everyone. It’s disappointing — that the hatred for one person tainted the good that other people contributed,” Lewis said.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | Syed rides scooter, blue wave to win in Illinois Senate District 26: Syed defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Darby Hills, garnering 57% of the vote, according to unofficial results. The race had been one of the most watched General Assembly contests, as both campaigns spent heavily to win the northwest suburban district long held by Republicans.

* Daily Herald | Two years after narrow defeat, Peterson wins 52nd House seat: With 96% of the estimated vote counted Wednesday, Peterson led the Barrington Hills Republican by more than 5,000 votes, capturing 56.1% of the total, according to unofficial results. The Associated Press projected her as the winner late Tuesday night. “Two years ago, we came up just 47 votes short. Tonight, the voters of the 52nd District made sure we finished the job,” Peterson said Tuesday.

* Sun-Times | Gov. JB Pritzker takes personal pride in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s defeat: It started in 2021, when Abbott signed into law an abortion ban at six weeks of pregnancy. That led to Pritzker sending letters to corporate executives with ties to Texas, advising them to reconsider doing business in a state that “strips its residents of their dignity.” Then Abbott opened the floodgates the following year, sending thousands of migrants to Chicago and saying he would continue to do so until then-President Joe Biden secured the border.

* Sun-Times | Juliana Stratton’s win marks historic first for women of color in national politics: When U.S. Sen.-elect Juliana Stratton is officially sworn in next January, Illinois will become the first state with two women of color serving in the Senate simultaneously. Stratton, Illinois’ first Black lieutenant governor, will also become the sixth Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate and the second from Illinois.

* Sun-Times | Gov. JB Pritzker, mum on White House ambition, offers congressional agenda in wake of Dems’ blue wave: Whether his sole focus is on his home state, Pritzker once again sidestepped the question of if, or when, he’ll decide on a White House bid. “Everything, including the agenda that we put forward today and everything we’ve done in the last eight years, has really been about the people of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “What is good for the people of Illinois? Those are the questions that I ask every day. When I wake up in the morning, what am I gonna do to make people’s lives better? And I go to bed at night thinking about, what didn’t I get done that day that I need to do the next day? Those are the things that’ll guide all the decisions I make going forward.”

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Johnson tells Crain’s: Election strengthens the case for taxing the wealthy: The hole in Johnson’s budget grows $101 million deeper if the City Council remains steadfast against Johnson’s corporate head tax and becomes a crater if they move to deny his proposed hike to the city’s lease tax from 15% to 20%. But unlike last year, the coalition that formed to advance their own heavily amended budget over Johnson’s objection is not in the mood to put something on the table in an election year. The mayor has contacted some in the coalition urging them to sit down with his progressive aldermanic allies to avoid another months-long stalemate, but it’s unclear what he’s willing to strip out of his own plan. “Overwhelmingly, folks are saying that corporations and the wealthiest have to pay their fair share in taxes. If anything, last night is an indication that we don’t necessarily have to acquiesce to the interests of corporations,” he told Crain’s.

* Sun-Times | Most Chicago voters said they want ShotSpotter back, but that’s unlikely to sway Mayor Johnson: The City Council has a long history of using advisory referendum questions to crowd out more controversial ballot topics that could impact voter turnout. Most of the time, the results don’t translate into any governmental action. […] “The mayor is choosing politics over the taxpayers’ wants and needs,” said Quinn. “I don’t think the mayor’s pilot progam … is anything but a tactic to delay.” Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) agreed that Tuesday’s vote “means absolutely nothing” and would not pressure Johnson to do what he has refused to do for three years.

* Center Square | CTU president talks strike, says state owes $6 billion: Gates said state education funding is billions of dollars in arrears, and the rich should pay their fair share. “We will be at a hearing of the House education committee to discuss, listen to this, the $6 billion that the state of Illinois, our governor, our General Assembly, owes all of the schools in the state of Illinois,” Gates said.

* Block Club | Ballot Shortages, Long Waits To Vote Were Caused By ‘Coding Error,’ Elections Board Says: A coding error in the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners’ system for calculating ballot quantities caused shortages at some polling places on Election Day, leading to long waits for voters, officials said Wednesday. The error resulted in some precincts receiving too few ballots of certain styles, even though the board said the total number of ballots provided to every precinct was correct. In some cases, the quantities of different ballot styles were transposed, leaving some polling places with an oversupply of one style and insufficient supply of another, according to Julie Metea, spokesperson for the elections board.

* Crain’s | Roseland hospital files for bankruptcy: A Roseland press release said its hand is being forced by the cumulative effect of a recent medical malpractice settlement, several threatened lawsuits, underfunding of safety-net hospitals in the state and the impending impact of massive federal Medicaid cuts.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County’s state Senate delegation to be all-female, all-Democratic: Syed, Battaglia and state Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, claimed victory Tuesday in the midterm election, joining state Sen. Adrian Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, and state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, as an all-female, all-Democratic group representing parts of Lake County. State Rep. Dan Didech, D-Buffalo Grove, the Lake County Democratic chair, said Wednesday the strong Democratic showing across the county was the result of recruiting a strong group of candidates for each office, developing a “robust” volunteer corps and national sentiment.

* Daily Herald | Northfield-based Medline laying off 304 workers: The layoffs are “part of a broader effort to simplify how we operate, reduce complexity and position the company for long-term success,” according to the statement. The company remains financially strong, the statement said. During the nine months that ended Sept. 26, Medline had roughly 11% higher net sales but about 29% lower net income than for the nine months that ended Sept. 27 of the previous year. The company had a smaller dip in net income for the three months that ended Sept. 26, of 1.2%, compared with the same three months last year.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Paula Crouch wins election as Sangamon Co. Sheriff: Crouch beat out Democrat Marc Bell by just under 6,000 votes, winning a full term as Sangamon County’s top law enforcement officer. A former Lieutenant with the Springfield Police Department, Crouch was appointed to the position in 2024 after Sheriff Jack Campbell retired.

* WGLT | Democrats increase McLean County Board majority as Republicans hold rural districts: The McLean County Democrats successfully defended and increased their majority on the county board in Tuesday’s election. By flipping a GOP-held seat and defending their own, Democrats will now have a 13-to-7 majority — one more than they had before — according to unofficial election results. Democrats have steadily picked up seats on the board since 2018. At the time of Donald Trump’s first election, Democrats only held five seats. This was the first election they were defending their majority.

* WGLT | Healthcare leader worries many in McLean County could lose Medicaid coverage next year: Puneet Leekha, CEO of Bloomington-based Chestnut Health Systems, said this will cause people who actually are working to lose coverage, simply because they can’t keep up with the paperwork requirements. “I support work and personal responsibility. I think work provides income, stability, purpose, independence, all those things. We should really be encouraging employment and the responsible use of public resources. That’s a given,” Leekha said. “But compliance under H.R. 1 in this way isn’t just about whether someone’s working. In other words, being eligible for Medicaid and successfully navigating the paperwork to keep it are two different things in this case.”

* WAND | Champaign Unit 4 to add fourth middle school after voters pass $192M referendum: “The plan is to make each middle school serve roughly 600 students, so all four of them will be about the same size,” said Board President Tony Bruno. “That allows us to deliver services to our students in a more intimate way than if we made one middle school of 1,000 kids, for example.”

*** National ***

* Crain’s | McDonald’s customers are spending more, but fewer are showing up: Comparable sales slumped 0.2% in the period, a smaller contraction than the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. McDonald’s warned in late September that results for the quarter would be “slightly negative,” partly because an array of value menu items launched earlier this year didn’t draw as many diners as hoped.

* The Hill | 3M settles ‘forever chemical’ personal injury claims for $7B: Manufacturing giant 3M has agreed to a $7.35 billion settlement over personal injury claims related to its manufacture of “forever chemicals” used in firefighting foam. The settlement comes as the company has faced thousands of lawsuits over these chemicals, which have been linked to health issues including cancer and problems related to the immune system, thyroid and fertility.