Control will be a statewide issue Tuesday, with Republicans hoping Election Day results will enable them to break a 14-year-old Democratic grasp of the gavel in the Illinois Senate, while House Democrats attempt to tighten their ironclad grip on the lower chamber.
There are 157 legislative seats at stake, all 118 in the House and two-thirds, or 39, Senate seats.
The outcomes in a few competitive districts will determine the partisan makeup of the General Assembly for the next two years.
Two of the most hotly contested races are in ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago, where Republicans have mounted strong campaigns to retain Republican lawmakers in city districts.
Sen. Robert Raica, a Republican elected to the Senate two years ago from his Southwest Side neighborhood, faces a strong challenge from Ald. William Krystyniak (23d), a protege of U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, the ward`s Democratic committeeman.
Across town, Rep. Sam Panayotovich, elected three times to the legislature as a Democrat, is running as a Republican. Panayotovich last year switched to the GOP along with his political mentor, former Cook County Democratic chairman Edward Vrdolyak, now the GOP candidate for Cook County Circuit Court clerk.
Panayotovich is opposed by Clem Balanoff, the 10th Ward Democratic committeeman and son of a former state legislator who frequently warred politically with the Vrdolyak forces in the city`s Southeast Side
neighborhoods.
Senate Republicans have targeted three Democrats-Sens. Thomas Dunn of Joliet, Penny Severns of Decatur and Joyce Holmberg of Rockford-as their best chances to pick up the seats they need to take control of the Senate for the first time since 1974.
”We`re optimistic, but we`re also realistic,” Mark Gordon, press aide to Senate Minority Leader James ”Pate” Philip (R., Wood Dale), said Monday. ”I think we are close in every case, but whether there is enough push to go over the edge is yet to be seen.”
The Democrats hold a 31-28 edge in the Senate.
In the House, Democrats have expressed optimism that they will add as many as 5 seats to their 67-51 majority.
A switch of four seats would give Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who has ruled the House since 1983, a three-fourths, ”veto-proof majority,” theoretically able to override Republican Gov. James Thompson.
The Democrats particularly are challenging Republican Reps. Linda Williamson, of Northlake; Robert Regan, of Crete; Larry Wennlund, of New Lenox; Robert Olson, of Broadwell; and Ronald Stephens, of Troy.
Voters also will cast ballots in 22 congressional races in Illinois, but few political observers expect any dramatic shift in the current 13-9 Democratic majority. The only heated contest pits freshman Republican Rep. Jack Davis, of New Lenox, and former state Sen. George Sangmeister, of Mokena, in what has been a mudslinging campaign for the 4th District seat representing Will County and the south suburbs.
Voters also will cast their ballots on a referendum proposal calling for a constitutional convention to redraw the state`s 18-year-old charter. Supporters of a new Con-Con claim a new Constitution could consider such issues as merit selection of judges, while opponents have campaigned against its estimated $31 million cost.
