DeKALB – DeKalb citizens were focused on the 76th Democratic representative district results, with the running of two DeKalb City Council members.
Democrat Amy “Murri” Briel, Ottawa native and chief of staff to the state representative, beat Cohen Barnes, small business owner and mayor of DeKalb, and Carolyn “Morris” Zasada who serves as the First Ward alderwoman for the DeKalb City Council with 2,356 votes taking the Democratic primary race.
Briel soared in the LaSalle County polls taking 50.41% of the 3,412 votes. The ballots provided Briel the boost she needed to triumph over Barnes who trailed with 2,077 votes and Zasada with 2,038 votes from the combined counties of LaSalle, Bureau and DeKalb.
Briel will face Liz Bishop of Peru who dominated the Republican Party nomination with 3,168 votes for state representative.
Bishop won almost double the amount of votes in each county from fellow Peru native, Crystal Loughran, who finished with 1,561 votes for the Republican primary.
Of the 20,042 registered voters in DeKalb Township 19% of voters participated with 3,895 ballots cast by 10:30 p.m. From the 59,152 total ballots, 10,249 were cast for the entire DeKalb County.
Former President Donald J. Trump goes into the presidential elections as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party taking 78% of the votes in DeKalb County. His former Republican candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis dropped out earlier this year leaving him as the only candidate for presidency.
Trump will go against Democrat and current President Joseph Biden who won the Democratic primary in the county with 89% of the ballots. The two will face each other in the United States presidential elections on Nov. 5.
Candidate Li Arellano Jr. of the Republican Party won the state senator primary in a close race against Tim Yager and Chris Bishop with no Democratic Party candidate, guaranteeing him the position. Arellano Jr. won with a turnout of 1,685 votes.
Representative Darin LaHood ran unopposed as the Republican Party nominee for the 16th Congressional District, which he currently presides over, receiving 3, 731 votes. The Democratic Party had no opponents.
Similarly, Representative Lauren Underwood of the 14th Congressional District ran unopposed with 9,082 total votes in the Democratic ballot. Underwood will go against Republican candidate James T. “Jim” Marter who won the nomination with 7,971 votes against candidate Charlie Kim.
