Politics & Government

Morrison Defeats Friedman in Il 29th State Senate Race

Democrat Julie Morrison has won the race against Republican Arie Friedman with nearly 53 percent of the votes

UPDATED AT 9:52 P.M.

Arie Friedman confirmed that he has conceded to Julie Morrison. 

"Congrats to Julie," he said. "I have patients scheduled on Friday and I'm looking forward to seeing them."

Find out what's happening in Deerfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Candidate

Percentage

Find out what's happening in Deerfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Total Vote

Precincts Reporting

Julie Morrison (D)

54.49 45,278

141 of 141

Arie Friedman (R)

45.51 37,946

141 of 141

UPDATED AT 9:20 P.M.

With all but seven precincts reporting, Julie Morrison just told a room full of supporters she has won the 29th State Senate race. 

"I am absolutely overwhelmed," she said. "Susan Garrett had the faith in me to ask me to run for her seat. I don't think there's a higher compliment in politics." 

"I'm going to be that independent voice I talked about," she added. "It's a tremendous a challenge to go down to Morrison, but it's an opportunity too. We're going to make it happen."

UPDATED AT 8:52 P.M.

Julie Morrison has just walked into her election party to cheers, applause and a crowd chanting her name. 

"We're really close, just hang with me," she told the crowd.

UPDATED AT 8:20 P.M.

With all 69 precincts reporting, but no early votes counted, Morrison leads in Lake County by more than 200 votes.

UPDATED AT 7:53 P.M.

Julie Morrison has not arrived to her election party yet, but one of her field organizers, Joe Piasecki, just announced to the room, "We are very close in Lake County, but they have not counted early vote ballots."

UPDATED AT 7:45 P.M.

With early results coming in from Cook County, Morrison begins to lead. 

UPDATED AT 7:22 P.M.

As the first results come in from Lake County, the race is in a dead heat.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The race to succeed state Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) in the IL 29th State Senate pits West Deerfield Township Supervisor Julie Morrison againstHighland Park pediatrician Arie Friedman.

Earlier: Voters Decide 10th District Race Today

Before the polls opened at 6 a.m. today, more than 23,000 people had cast ballots either through in-person early voting or by mail. With a turnout exceeding 80,000 of the 29th State Senate District’s more than 110,000 forecast by campaign officials, that is more than a quarter of the vote.

As votes come in through the night, the totals in the table above will not include the early votes cast in the Lake County portion of the district, which is just over 60 percent, until 100 percent of the precincts are reporting.

Once all election day votes are counted, the early votes will be added to the total, according to Lake County Clerk Willard Helander.

The campaign actually began as soon as Garrett announced her retirement July 27, 2011. Within days Morrison announced her candidacy and Friedman followed suit by the end of August. Both have undergone political transformations over their careers.


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