Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) won his third consecutive term for the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican candidate Steve Sauerberg in his first run at public office.

DeKalb County voted 63 percent Durbin and 37 percent Sauerberg.

Durbin said, in a press release, he was pleased to continue his job as senator.

“Thank you to the people of Illinois for this vote of confidence,” Durbin said in the release. “I look forward to representing our great state in the Senate and working with our new president to face our historic challenges.”

Sauerberg’s campaign manager, Christopher Hage, referred to the atmosphere of the Republican campaign as “relaxed” after conceding the election.

“Peoples’ thoughts are already turned to our presidency, the state, our economy and our national security,” Hage said.

He admitted the campaign didn’t expect to win in a heavily Democratic Illinois, and going up against Durbin was no easy task.

“This state is completely run by Democrats, top to bottom,” Hage said. “The Republican Party has absolutely no voice whatsoever in Illinois. We couldn’t get attention if [Sauerberg] got arrested.”

Durbin dominated the majority of the votes for Illinois.

Eileen Dubin, DeKalb County Democrats chairperson, agreed with Hage about the Democratic prevalence in Illinois.

“I’m very excited about Obama, Durbin and Foster,” Dubin said. “We chose a very strong Democratic pull in the county.”

Jessica Wells contributed to this story.