Incumbents Win In Champaign County
Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz won re-election against Republican George Vargas. The two are pictured at a candidate's forum in September. Jeff Bossert/Illinois Public Media
It was a good night for incumbents in Champaign County, though one of them had to wait for the final votes to be counted to claim victory.
In a rematch from the 2012 election, Champaign County Auditor John Farney (R) won re-election over Democrat George Danos by just 129 votes. County Coroner Duane Northrup was re-elected with nearly 56% of the vote in his race against Democrat Alexander Rounds.
Meanwhile, Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz (D) won re-election comfortably over Republican George Vargas with 57% of the vote. Republican Mark Shelden returned to countywide office with a narrow 51-49% victory over Democrat Matt Duco in the race for Recorder of Deeds. Shelden replaces retiring Republican Barb Frasca. He served as Champaign County Clerk from 1997-2010 before leaving that office to work on U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson's staff.
Champaign County Democrats retained their narrow 12-10 majority on the county board. There were only two contested races. Republican Jon Rector was re-elected to his District 5 seat by a narrow 38-vote margin over Democrat Peter Tracy. Meanwhile, after defeating incubment Lloyd Carter in the March Democratic primary, James Tinsley was elected to the District 11 seat with 67% of the vote over Republican Barbara Burch Rogers.