Out of six Republican candidates for Illinois governor, conservative state Sen. Darren Bailey has won the primary, according to a race call from The Associated Press.

He and incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, will go head-to-head in November. Pritzker predictably won his two-way race Tuesday evening.

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Darren Bailey Saturday after his popularity had been growing in the polls for months.

The 2022 race for governor in Illinois is shaping up to be one of the most expensive gubernatorial elections in history. Pritzker, a billionaire, and two other mega-donors spent tens of millions of dollars trying to influence the outcome of the Republican primary.

Suburban Chicago personal injury lawyer Kathy Salvi has won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Illinois

Kathy Salvi, a suburban Chicago personal injury lawyer, won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Illinois on Tuesday, topping a field of seven candidates.

Salvi, 63, of Mundelein, will take on first-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth in November. Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq War, is highly popular and was unopposed in the Tuesday’s primary. She will be the clear favorite as she seeks a second term in November in a place where Democrats control all statewide offices and voters twice rejected President Donald Trump by double digits.

Salvi, who works in a Chicago-area law firm, is a former Lake County assistant public defender who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2006. She campaigned this year on a pledge to work to unify her party and maintains Duckworth is beatable because the fall election will be about the success or failure of the Biden administration.

As battle for Illinois governor shapes up, it is class warfare versus culture war, by Tribune’s Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner

By the numbers: Bailey, who also had a Trump endorsement in his pocket, won 57.5 percent of the Republican vote, with 98 percent of precincts reporting — miles ahead of Richard Irvin, the establishment candidate who came in third place after being backed by billionaire Ken Griffin to the tune of $50 million. Irvin had 15 percent of the vote to second-place finisher Jesse Sullivan’s 15.7 percent.

Pritzker’s prize: This wasn’t so much an Irvin loss as it was also a victory by Gov. JB Pritzker, who along with the Democratic Governors Association, funneled some $34 million in ads propping up Bailey, who Democrats see as easy pickings in November.

SPRINGFIELD – Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly released a proposed set of new congressional district maps Friday, just days before lawmakers return to the Statehouse for the start of their fall veto session, which begins Oct. 19.

All states redraw their congressional districts following each decennial census. The proposed new maps reflect the fact that Illinois will have only 17 congressional districts after the 2022 elections, down from its current 18 districts, due to the state’s loss of population since the 2010 census.

The draft proposal includes a number of oddly-shaped districts, many of which would create entirely new constituencies for incumbent members of Congress, particularly Republicans.

As expected, southern Illinois, which saw the most dramatic population declines, would essentially be compressed from having two districts to just one. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, would see his 12th District nearly double in size geographically to take in almost the entire southern end of the state, from an area just east of the Metro East region all the way to the Ohio River.

Meanwhile, Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, who represents what is currently called the 15th District in southern and east-central Illinois, would be placed in an entirely new 16th District that takes in Oakland, curls around the city of Champaign and stretches west across much of central Illinois to an area just south of the Quad Cities.

SPRINGFIELD – Despite opposition from Republicans as well as reform groups, Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed into law the revised state legislative district maps that lawmakers passed in August, opening the door to almost certain court challenges.

“These legislative maps align with the landmark Voting Rights Act and will help ensure Illinois’ diversity is reflected in the halls of government,” Pritzker said in a statement.

But not everyone agrees that the maps do reflect the state’s diversity. The political action arm of the reform group CHANGE Illinois issued a statement arguing that they actually dilute minority voting power.

“Many major groups agree the new maps reduce the numbers of majority Black voting age population districts and majority Latino voting age population districts,” the group said in a statement. “The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s lawyers have said they believe the state representative and Senate maps dilute Latino voting power. The Latino Policy Forum asked Pritzker to veto the maps for the same reason. Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting also said the maps do not create enough Black majority voting age districts.”

Lawmakers initially adopted maps during the spring legislative session in order to meet the state constitution’s June 30 deadline, despite the fact that they didn’t yet have the official, detailed U.S. Census data needed to draw districts with nearly equal population.

SPRINGFIELD – Democrats in the General Assembly pushed through a new set of legislative maps during a one-day special session Tuesday, Aug. 31, although the process they used sparked the ire of Republicans and voting rights advocates alike.

If accepted by Gov. JB Pritzker, as they are expected to be, the new maps would replace those adopted in May, which were passed without the benefit of official 2020 U.S. Census data. But they will also have to pass muster with a federal court, where two lawsuits are pending, and possibly the Illinois Supreme Court.

The plan adopted Tuesday night was actually the third draft of a redistricting plan that had been introduced in the span of less than 48 hours. The first was formally released Monday afternoon and was the subject of a contentious public hearing that night. A second, amended version was introduced Tuesday morning, barely one hour before the start of a hearing in the House Redistricting Committee, and that plan was changed slightly again just before the House came into session to debate the package.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pair of bills Friday, June 4, that redraw state legislative and appellate court districts, despite the fact that official U.S Census data needed to ensure equal representation has not yet been delivered.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Pritzker said he signed the measures after reviewing the maps to make sure they complied with state and federal law by ensuring minority representation.

“Illinois’ strength is in our diversity, and these maps help to ensure that communities that have been left out and left behind have fair representation in our government,” Pritzker said in the statement. “These district boundaries align with both the federal and state Voting Rights Acts, which help to ensure our diverse communities have electoral power and fair representation.”

Reaction to Pritzker’s announcement was swift. House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch called the signing “a win for the people of this great state.”

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pair of bills Friday, June 4, that redraw state legislative and appellate court districts, despite the fact that official U.S Census data needed to ensure equal representation has not yet been delivered.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Pritzker said he signed the measures after reviewing the maps to make sure they complied with state and federal law by ensuring minority representation.

“Illinois’ strength is in our diversity, and these maps help to ensure that communities that have been left out and left behind have fair representation in our government,” Pritzker said in the statement. “These district boundaries align with both the federal and state Voting Rights Acts, which help to ensure our diverse communities have electoral power and fair representation.”

Reaction to Pritzker’s announcement was swift. House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch called the signing “a win for the people of this great state.”

Shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, the Illinois Senate passed a bill aiming to improve ethics standards for elected officials after it was filed just hours earlier.

An amendment to Senate Bill 539, introduced by Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights, passed with bipartisan approval despite House Republicans’ concerns that it was watered down.

“This legislation takes the first steps in addressing some of the most egregious scandals in our state’s history,” Gillespie said in a news conference Monday night. “While it won’t end corruption overnight, it closes many of the loopholes that have allowed bad actors to game the system for decades.”

The measure passed the House 113-5 Monday and the Senate unanimously early Tuesday morning. The bill will only need a signature from the governor to become law.