How could St. Clair County IL government change after Nov. 8 general election?
Unofficial election results for St. Clair County show incumbents leading in nearly every contested race, but the community will get three new board members who didn’t face incumbents as well as a new circuit clerk following a resignation.
Here’s a look at how the county government could change, based on unofficial numbers that do not include all of the vote-by-mail ballots requested in St. Clair County:
The new St. Clair County Board members
Redistricting, or altering the county board district boundaries based on population changes after the U.S. Census, created a new County Board District 2 around Caseyville.
This was the area of District 29 in the old map, where Republican Rick Casey is the board member now. Casey ran in neighboring District 1, which includes Fairmont City, in the Nov. 8 election against that district’s incumbent, Democrat Robert Allen Jr.
That’s how District 2 ended up with two newcomers: Republican Cary Mathews and Democrat G.W. Scott Jr.
Mathews was leading the District 2 race by nine votes as of Wednesday.
County Board District 7 around Dupo and Cahokia Heights also saw two newcomers: Republican Jessica McClelland and Democrat Courtney Moore.
On Wednesday, Moore was leading the District 7 race by 400 votes.
Republican Dave Langford, the current board member for a large part of that area under the old map’s District 16, ran in the Nov. 8 election for county clerk against Democratic incumbent Tom Holbrook.
Several sitting board members’ districts shifted in the southern part of the county, making way for newcomers in County Board District 19 around Smithton, New Athens and Marissa.
District 19 includes parts of District 22 and District 7 from the county’s old district map. Incumbents in those districts, Republicans Michael O’Donnell and Ed Cockrell, ran unopposed in new boundaries around Millstadt and Fayetteville, respectively.
In District 19, Republican Phil Henning was ahead by 1,886 votes on Wednesday in the race against Democrat Jeremy Embrich.
Here are the numbers:
County Board District 2 (13 of 13 precincts reporting)
- Cary Mathews (R) - 1,800 (50.1%)
- G.W. Scott Jr. (D) - 1,791 (49.9%)
County Board District 7 (11 of 11 precincts reporting)
- Courtney Moore (D) - 1,154 (60.5%)
- Jessica McClelland (R) - 754 (39.5%)
County Board District 19 (15 of 15 precincts reporting)
- Phil Henning (R) - 3,024 (72.7%)
- Jeremy Embrich (D) - 1,138 (27.3%)
A new circuit clerk for St. Clair County
Former St. Clair County Circuit Clerk Kahalah A. Clay resigned last year to take a job as the chief legal counsel for the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Marie Zaiz has been serving as interim circuit clerk in the meantime.
In the Nov. 8 election, voters decided between Republican Cindi McDonald and Democrat Kinnis Williams Sr. for the role.
As of Wednesday, McDonald was up by 354 votes. If elected, she would join a group of largely Democratic officials in St. Clair County government.
Here are the numbers:
Circuit clerk (Unexpired two-year term) (215 of 215 precincts reporting)
- Cindi McDonald (R) - 42,575 (50.2%)
- Kinnis Williams Sr. (D) - 42,221 (49.8%)
Which incumbents are leading unofficial results
In every other contested race in St. Clair County, unofficial results showed incumbents had the lead, including these Democratic candidates:
- Clerk Tom Holbrook: leading by 9,801 votes
- Sheriff Rick Watson: leading by 3,475 votes
- Treasurer Andrew Lopinot: leading by 3,832 votes
- Board of Review member Angela Grossman-Roewe: leading by 2,266 votes
Here are the numbers:
Clerk (215 of 215 precincts reporting)
- Thomas “Tom” Holbrook (i) (D) - 47,902 (55.7%)
- David B. Langford (R) - 38,101 (44.3%)
Sheriff (215 of 215 precincts reporting)
- Rick Watson (i) (D) - 44,732 (52%)
- Justin Biggs (R) - 41,257 (48%)
Treasurer (215 of 215 precincts reporting)
- Andrew Lopinot (i) (D) - 44,649 (52.2%)
- David C. Lindquist (R) - 40,817 (47.8%)
Board of Review (215 of 215 precincts reporting)
- Angela Grossman-Roewe (i) (D) - 43,661 (51.3%)
- Doug Jameson (R) - 41,395 (48.7%)
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 1:40 PM.
