Patrick Sheehan has conceded the race in the 19th Senate District to Democratic incumbent Michael Hastings, with Hastings saying it is “time to heal.”
Sheehan issued a statement Tuesday night thanking his family and support from elected officials including state Rep. Tim Ozinga and Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz.
“I promise we gave this race everything we had,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan, of Lockport, is a police officer in Plainfield and also serves on the Lockport Township Park Board.
“I learned a lot about the people of this district because I walked every day and had honest, meaningful conversations at the door,” Sheehan said in his statement.
It was Hastings’ first challenger in a general election in a decade. Gov. J.B. Pritzker had called on Hastings to resign amid accusations his wife made in divorce proceedings that Hastings verbally and physically abused her in their Frankfort home. Hastings has denied the allegations, and the divorced has since finalized.
“This election was one of the most difficult for our community,” Hastings said in a statement Wednesday. “It challenged us to look to our core and ask ourselves what do we value.”
“Now it’s time to heal, recalibrate and focus on getting back to work,” he said.
Hastings said Sheehan called Tuesday to concede the election.
“It was a very thoughtful conversation, where we spoke of the need for more investment in mental health treatments for veterans and first responders,” Hastings said. “Regardless of political affiliations, we both agreed that we could work on this together.”
Updated, although unofficial, vote totals as of Wednesday show Hastings with 50.6% to 49.4% for Sheehan, with Hastings having an edge of 938 votes out of more than 82,600 ballots cast, according to county clerks in Cook and Will counties.
The counties are required to conduct a canvass of votes by Nov. 29.
Until recently, Hastings was in a divorce proceeding in which his wife, Kathleen, alleged Hastings was verbally abusive toward her and had at one point battered her at the Frankfort home they shared. Hastings denied the allegations.
Michael Hastings first filed for divorce June 21, 2021, seven years after the couple married in Las Vegas, citing irreconcilable differences. He filed for the case to be sealed July 15, 2021, a motion granted the next day by Will County Judge Derek Ewanic.
The case was unsealed in late October following an order by Will County Judge Elizabeth Dow.
Before the divorce proceedings being made public, Michael Hastings went to court alleging that Frankfort Police Department employees or possibly Will County employees released what Hastings called “a fabricated police report with false claims” of domestic violence against him alleged by his wife.
Michael Hastings, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Iraq War, first took office in 2013 and ran unopposed in the 2020 election as well as in the 2016 election after defeating a primary contender.
The outcome of the race against Sheehan was far from clear election night. With all but one precinct reporting in Cook County and all precincts reported in Will County late Nov. 8, Sheehan was leading by 68 votes.
Updated totals Wednesday showed Hastings with 41,808 votes to 40,870 for Sheehan. The totals may not reflect all of the provisional and mail-in ballots cast in the district.
In Cook County, Hastings had 24,599 votes to 10,630 for Sheehan, while in Will County the results were quite the opposite, with Sheehan having 30,240 votes to 17,209 for Hastings, according to county clerk tallies.
mnolan@tribpub.com
