President-elect Donald Trump saw support for his presidency grow among suburban voters this year compared to his two previous campaigns.
AP
While the status quo largely prevailed throughout the suburbs in the wake of Tuesday’s election, some results did raise eyebrows.
Suburban support for former President Donald Trump grew while every Democratic congressional incumbent handily defeated their Republican challengers.
Turnout dipped, local improvements that will cost suburban taxpayers more won over voters and two coroners were ousted. These are the key takeaways from election night 2024.
Trump’s suburban gains
President-elect Donald Trump saw greater support from suburban voters Tuesday than in either of his two previous runs.
Unofficial results show Trump captured just 40.7% of the votes that were cast in suburban Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. However, that’s a 3.5-point spike from 2020 and up 5.1 points from 2016, voting records show.
McHenry County was the only suburban county Trump carried with 51.9% of the vote. That’s up more than two percentage points from 2020.
Suburban Cook County voters accounted for Trump’s largest swing from 2020. That year, 31.7% of voters chose Trump. This year it was 36%, current totals show.
In DuPage County, Trump received 41.5% of the vote this year compared to 39.4% in 2020. Trump received 44.3% of the Kane County vote, up from 41.2% in 2020.
Trump has 39% of the vote in Lake County, up from 36.6% in 2020. In Will County, 48.1% of voters chose Trump this year compared to 30.7% in 2020.
Referendum successes
In a presidential race that pundits say was largely decided by voters’ wallets, suburban voters appeared more generous when it came to paying for local improvements.
Fifteen suburban ballot questions seeking voter approval to borrow a combined $1.4 billion for school, park, library or forest preserve construction projects or land purchases were successful Tuesday.
Borrowing plans in Barrington Unit District 220, Mount Prospect Elementary District 57, Park Ridge Elementary District 64, Mundelein High School District 120, Cary Elementary District 26, Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200, Indian Prairie Unit District 204, Bloomingdale Elementary District 13 and Salt Creek Elementary District 48 were all approved.
DuPage, Kane and Lake forest preserves received voter approval to borrow or raise taxes, while park district borrowing ballot questions in Huntley, Elmhurst and Mount Prospect were also successful.
Roselle Library District voters also approved a $22 million borrowing plan.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, left, beat Republican Niki Conforti in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District race.
Congressional consistency
Trump’s suburban gains didn’t translate to any upsets among the suburban congressional delegation.
All eight suburban congressional Democratic incumbents easily held their seats for another term. The closest race was in District 6 where Rep. Sean Casten defeated Republican challenger Niki Conforti by seven percentage points.
Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago defeated his District 5 challenger Tommy Hanson by a 2-to-1 margin for the widest margin of victory among suburban congressmen.
Turnout downturn
Unofficial results from Tuesday night show nearly 300,000 fewer suburban voters cast ballots in this election than in 2020.
While suburban voter rolls have dwindled by about 117,000 voters since 2020, Tuesday’s turnout is down about 5.7% from four years ago, according to current tallies by election officials.
Turnout saw the steepest drop in suburban Cook County where only 61.8% of registered voters cast a ballot this year compared to 71.2% in 2020, according to the county clerk’s website.
Kane County was reporting a 0.9% decline in voter turnout this year compared to 2020, which is the smallest decline among suburban counties.
Turnout appears down 4% in DuPage County, 3.3% in Lake County, 2.6% in McHenry County and 2% in Will County as well.
DuPage County coroner Richard Jorgensen, left, and Kane County Coroner Rob Russell both lost their posts in Tuesday’s election.
Coroners turn blue
Two longtime Republican suburban coroners were not reelected Tuesday, continuing a Democratic takeover of many countywide offices long held by GOP candidates in the suburbs.
Democrat Linda Lukas is holding a 5,400-vote lead over incumbent DuPage County Coroner Richard Jorgensen, according to the most recent posted results.
In Kane County, incumbent Republican Coroner Rob Russell is trailing Democrat Monica Silva by 3,800 votes.
While the results are unofficial, it’s unlikely enough outstanding vote-by-mail ballots could sway the current results.
Coroners are political positions and do not require any medical experience, though Jorgensen, Lukas and Silva have all worked or currently work in medical professions. Russell is a former sheriff’s deputy.