* Tribune…

In January, a record number of Democrats are set to be sworn in as state representatives in the Illinois House, giving Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch a supermajority not even enjoyed by his notorious predecessor and claiming its first political victim — now-outgoing House Minority Leader Jim Durkin.

Aided by a newly drawn map of district boundaries, Welch’s Democrats say they racked up wins in as many as 77, and possibly 78, of the House’s 118 seats. That would best the modern high-water mark of 74 seats set in 2018 by Democrats led at the time by now-indicted ex-Speaker Michael Madigan, the longest-serving state House speaker in American history. […]

The final tally will likely reduce Harmon’s current Democratic majority from 41 of 59 senators to about 39 or 40, depending on when results are confirmed over the coming days. Democrats will easily exceed the 71 votes needed to control a supermajority in the House and the 36 in the Senate to exercise on issues ranging from borrowing money to overriding a veto to putting proposed constitutional amendments before voters.

Meanwhile, the AP sticks to its outdated numbers and spreads misinformation…

According to vote tabulations by The Associated Press, by Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats had picked up one seat, matching their 2021-22 total of 74 votes

As another example, on election night, the AP was only reporting suburban Cook County numbers in Sen. Bill Cunningham’s race. They finally incorporated the Chicago results, but have since appear to have stopped counting. The AP claims that with “99% of precincts reporting,” Cunningham (D-Chicago) leads Christine Shanahan McGovern 53-47. He’s actually ahead 59-41.

If you’re gonna set yourself up as the ultimate factual authority, then, please, put the work in, or at least run a disclaimer.

* Yep…

With all precincts reporting, embattled Democratic Illinois state senator Michael Hastings @HastingsforIL now has a 341 lead over his Republican challenger. Looks like Hastings will win, assuming mail will trend Democratic. #twill @dmihalopoulos @MaryAnnAhernNBC @capitolfax pic.twitter.com/F3bcVSfTgI

— Frank Calabrese (@FrankCalabrese) November 9, 2022

The AP still has Sheehan ahead by 68 votes.

* Speaking of mail, what DeVore fails to mention is that Donald Trump has actively discouraged mail-in ballots for years. The Illinois Republican Party pioneered mail-in voting years ago. It was jettisoned because rank-and-file voters now hate it. It’s truly hurting their party’s candidates and they need to get over themselves…

Also, with or without mail-in ballots, DeVore woulda got clobbered. I mean, c’mon.

* Politico on the scramble to replace retiring House GOP Leader Jim Durkin…

State Rep. Tim Ozinga, who was elected in 2020 and has been angling for the position for months, has already caused concern among some Republicans. Ozinga committed to helping the House Republican Majority)this cycle as finance chair and said he would personally give $2 million to the fund, according to a person familiar with the arrangement.

But Ozinga didn’t end up committing anything after all. He gave more to the Senate Republicans than he did to the House Republicans.

Ozinga, whose family runs a well-known concrete company, sat on the sidelines at a time when Republican candidates could have used the financial help. But he did create something he calls the “Big Tent Coalition,” which provides candidates with services on the campaign trail. Ozinga charged a 15 percent fee for the work.

The day before the election, Ozinga also deposited $1 million into his political account, maybe in an effort to show members he has money to share. But some saw it as an insult because it wasn’t used to help any candidates win office.

Another potential candidate for GOP House leader is state Rep. Martin McLaughin. He’s also been in the House since 2020 and before that was a Barrington Village president. Away from his public job, he runs a pension firm, a position that could put him under some scrutiny. He has opposed pension consolidation legislation and has employed a lobbyist in Springfield for his business in order to influence legislation for his firm’s benefit.

Yikes.

* Golden Horsehoe winner Candy Dogood in comments…

Speaking of 2024 speculation, it’d be nice if reporters would recognize that JB cannot state his intention to run for president without triggering an immediate requirement to file with the FEC and to comply with quite a few laws regarding what he can do, how he can do it, and how he spends money.

So, he can’t answer in the affirmative. There’s also no legal difference between an “exploratory committee” and a regular presidential campaign committee, they just call it exploratory so it’s less embarrassing when the candidate decides not to run.

JB benefits from others talking about the possibility both in Illinois and nationally, but it’s not hard hitting journalism to ask him a question that he can’t legally answer in the affirmative at this time.

If he is ever planning on running for President a random reporter at a political event is not getting the scoop by pressing him on the issue and a state governor giving a non answer about running for president isn’t news and isn’t important. It’s also lazy to keep asking him about it.

If a journalist wants to have fun with this topic, the questions should tie back into his administration, “Do you think that the staffing difficulties and contempt of court charges at your Department of Children and Family services could detract from your national image if it was reported on nationwide?”

Asking him a yes or no question solely about running for president is a waste of everyone’s time.

It is also very unlikely that Biden would ditch his VP, and if Biden decides not to run we probably won’t hear about that affirmatively for at least another 12 months.

The Governor has a lot that needs to he addressed that his administration is directly responsible for, let’s press him on those issues and why they seem to be lingering with no one being held accountable for the failure to address them.

* Last February, Lake County Clerk Robin O’Connor, elected four years ago as a Democrat, announced she was switching parties to run as a Republican. She’s losing 54-46 to Democrat Anthony Vega. All countywide Democrats are winning. And only 5 of 19 seemingly victorious county board candidates are Republicans. JB Pritzker won the county with 51 percent in 2018. He’s winning the county this year with 59 percent.

Pritzker won DuPage County four years ago by two points, with 48 percent. He’s winning it this year by 15 points, 56-41.

Pritzker lost McHenry County four years ago by 10 points and he’s cutting his losing margin this year in half.

One potential kinda/sorta bright spot for Bailey is Will County, which Pritzker won 50-44 four years ago. Pritzker’s winning by a lesser amount so far this year, 50-47.

* Sen. Darren Bailey is currently leading in one Chicago ward, the 41st, way up on the city’s Northwest Side. The ward is the home to a lot of first responders. But the lead is small, 9,022-8,964, so that could get wiped out when more mail-in/provisional ballots are counted. Pritzker won the 41st Ward four years ago 51-43.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* ADDED: Rep. Theresa Mah | Asian Americans are making a big mark in Illinois politics: With these numbers, Asian Americans come closer to equitable representation for the state’s fastest-growing population. We’ll be able to advocate for our communities so that it will not be possible to make policies “about us without us” and we will more effectively fight for resources our constituents need.

* NBC 5 | ‘Ok Then’: Pritzker Details What Was Said in His Election Night Call With Bailey: “I got on the phone… I said, ‘Senator Bailey,’ he said, ‘Governor, I want to congratulate you.’ And I said, ‘Well, thank you very much. That’s very kind of you.’ And he said, ‘Okay, then.’”

* Daily Herald | No red wave here: Democratic congressional candidates won big in the suburbs: Despite projections of a red wave that would push Republicans into office in Illinois and across the country, Democrats — nearly all of them incumbents — swept all eight suburban congressional seats in Tuesday’s election.

* Daily Herald | Syed’s defeat of Bos in 51st House District bucked trend of incumbent victories in Northwest suburbs : “I’m feeling very, very grateful,” she said Wednesday. “I think we laid it all out there. We communicated our message. We wanted to let constituents in this district know what exactly I would fight for in the state legislature, in our suburban district and the place that I’ve called home, and a place that I was born and raised in, and I have a lot of care for this community.”

* WTTW | South Side Voters Speak Up for Trees in Jackson Park and South Shore. Is Anyone Listening?: Should the city of Chicago stop cutting down trees in Jackson Park and the area surrounding the South Shore Cultural Center? […] An overwhelming number of ballots — 82% — were cast in the affirmative, according to unofficial totals from the Chicago Board of Elections.

* Tribune | Progressive challenger Brandon Johnson lands another big union endorsement: An influential labor group with ties to the Chicago Teachers Union announced its endorsement of Brandon Johnson for mayor on Wednesday, adding to the list of labor organizations opting to back the Cook County commissioner over other progressives, including U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.

* Jerusalem Post | Alarming rise in American Jewish children’s complaints of antisemitism at schools: The Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) School Watch initiative reported a rise of hundreds of percent of complaints on behalf of Jewish children on antisemitism in schools, one year after the watchdog’s founding. School Watch was designed to “contribute to a safe school environment and reduce incidents of antisemitism, anti-Zionism, national origin discrimination and hate,” according to its mission statement.

* The Daily Beast | The Six Biggest Takeaways From Musk’s Groveling Call With Twitter Advertisers:Amid a mass exodus of advertisers, “Chief Twit” Elon Musk took to his newly purchased social media platform on Wednesday to assure companies that Twitter will remain a safe space for their brands. In an hour-long livestream, known as a “Twitter Space,” Musk cajoled advertisers with promises of robust content moderation and account verification practices. The billionaire faces a formidable challenge: shoring up Twitter’s revenues without alienating the highly vocal band of right-wing users who initially celebrated the acquisition.

* Politico | Crypto kingpin bet a fortune on Democrats. Now he’s lost it all.: Crypto megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried helped bankroll Democrats’ overperformance in the midterms. But any friends he may have had in Washington won’t be there for him as his crumbling business empire threatens to torpedo the entire digital currency market.

* FiveThirtyEight | Abortion Rights Are Reshaping American Politics: Results are still pending in some key states like Arizona, but Democrats won many contests that will shape abortion access for the next few years — and in some cases, much longer. Abortion-rights supporters managed to enshrine the right to abortion in three state constitutions, including the crucial state of Michigan, where a near-total ban on abortion from 1931 has been tangled up in court battles for months. And supporters notched another consequential win in Kentucky, where a majority of the state’s voters opposed a ballot measure that would have explicitly clarified that abortion rights was not protected under the state constitution.