Illinois Election 2026: Here are the top races to watch on election night

CHICAGO - Voting is already underway for the consequential 2026 midterm elections in Illinois and across the country.

Nationally, this election is widely viewed as a chance for voters to register their dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump and Republicans after they won power in 2024. Democrats are widely expected to flip at least once chamber of Congress, and have a good chance of recapturing both.

While federal races in Illinois won’t actually factor significantly into the Congressional math, there are still multiple key races to keep an eye on up and down the ballot.

Election Day is Nov. 3, but early voting is already open across the Chicago area.

Be sure to tune into Fox Chicago and on the FOX LOCAL app for live coverage on election night.

Here is a rundown of the top races on the ballot to keep an eye on.

Pritzker’s bid for 3-peat…and more?

Gov. JB Pritzker is running for a rare third term in office, something not seen for about 40 years in Illinois.

His opponent is downstate farmer and former state lawmaker Darren Bailey, whom Pritzker previously defeated in 2022 by more than 12 percentage points and half a million votes.

Pritzker is expected to win easily, even as Bailey has run a substantially different campaign this year, at least in terms of temperament, especially after the deaths of multiple family members in a helicopter crash last year. Bailey has distanced himself from many of Trump’s economic policies despite the president voicing support for him on multiple occasions.

Still, Bailey's different approach hasn't helped overcome a significant fundraising disadvantage.

The sitting governor, who is heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and whose personal wealth is pegged at around $4 billion according to Forbes, gave $65 million to his own campaign last month. Bailey raised only about $633,000 during the third quarter of this year and had a little over $431,000 as of the beginning of this month, per campaign finance records.

There are a myriad of big issues for whoever is governor and state lawmakers to tackle in Springfield, including calls for more funding for schools, how to regulate data centers, curbing energy and other rising costs, and how to keep the Chicago Bears from leaving the state for Indiana.

But perhaps the more interesting aspect of the race is what happens after Election Day: the unofficial start of the Democratic primary race for president.

There has been much speculation about whether Pritzker will make a run for the 2028 Democratic nomination. While he hasn’t polled particularly high in way-to-early polls of potential 2028 contenders, Pritzker could be a formidable candidate because of his ability to self-fund a campaign, his high-profile tussles with Trump and a successful progressive and fiscal agenda running the country’s sixth-most populous state. 

He’s also been seen crisscrossing the country and donating money to support Democrats in various other states, ostensibly to help his party. But could that also be a way for him to garner more support for a presidential run?

When asked about his potential ambition in 2028 during a WTTW debate last week, Pritzker didn’t directly address his plans. He said he wanted to help Democrats win back Congress because, "We need some checks and balances against Donald Trump."

While it remains to be seen if Pritzker will seek higher office, major candidates for president could begin to announce their plans during the first half of next year.

Stratton leads generational change

Another key race is for who will succeed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, 81, a Democrat and stalwart of Illinois politics across four decades.

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton beat out two sitting members of Congress in a hotly contested Democratic primary back in March. She’s now also expected to win an easy victory against Don Tracy, a central Illinois attorney who also previously served as the chairman of the state Republican Party. She has championed progressive policies like a $25 minimum wage and "Medicare for All" during her campaign.

Stratton, 61, is also leading a new generation that will make up a much younger Illinois delegation to Washington after several older members decided not to run for reelection this year.

Democrat La Shawn Ford, a state lawmaker, is expected to win his race against Republican Chad Koppie in the 7th Congressional District, which spans much of Chicago’s West and South Sides and western suburbs. If he wins, Ford, 54, would succeed Rep. Danny Davis, 85, who was first elected to Congress in 1996.

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat, is the favorite to win in the 9th Congressional District over Republican John Elleson. If he wins, Biss, 49, would succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 82, who has represented parts of Chicago’s North Side, and north and northwest suburbs since being elected in 1998.

Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, 70, also decided not to run for reelection, in part due to health concerns, but how he made that decision has overshadowed the dynamics of that race. More on that below.

Historic Chicago School Board election

For the first time, voters will be able to decide the entire Chicago Board of Education in next month’s election.

The board will consist of 21 members, 20 elected in their own "subdistrict" and one president elected district-wide.

The Board of Education is tasked with approving the budget and policies for Chicago Public Schools and its more than 316,000 students and 45,000 employees.

But it’s the race for the presidency of the board that has garnered the most attention and millions of dollars in spending, including on political ads that have run seemingly on repeat.

Jessica Biggs, Hilario Dominguez and Victor P. Henderson are the remaining active candidates in the race for president.

As of mid-October, more than $6 million has been spent on the race. Common Ground Collective, a political action committee backed by billionaire Michael Sacks, has spent about $2.6 million in the race, including more than $846,000 spent in advertising just this month against Dominguez, the candidate backed by the influential Chicago Teachers Union.

Biggs, a former CPS principal, has also garnered support from several union organizations and about a dozen members of the Chicago City Council.

Dominguez, a former special education teacher, has had to defend himself from criticism over a briefly renewed investigation into years-old allegations he acted inappropriately with a teenager. The CPS inspector general last week said it did not find sufficient evidence that he engaged in sexual misconduct. Dominguez slammed the reopening of the investigation, casting it as a political effort to "smear" him.

Among the top issues in the election is how to right-size CPS’ finances, especially without further help from state lawmakers. Some have argued for at least considering closing schools that are significantly under-enrolled, an idea Dominguez and the CTU have staunchly rejected.

Race to succeed Chuy Garcia

While most of the races for Congress in Illinois are not expected to produce any surprises on election night, there is one contest that’s a bit more unusual in its complexion.

U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia’s last-minute decision not to seek reelection in the 4th Congressional District essentially paved the way for his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, no relation, to secure the Democratic nomination without any competition.

After much criticism over the political maneuvering, multiple independent candidates tried to get their names on the ballot, including a sitting Chicago alderperson, but only Lyons Mayor Chris Getty was successful.

Working Class Party candidate Ed Hershey and Republican Lupe Castillo round out the field.

Despite the larger field and unusual activity from third party or independent candidates, the 4th Congressional District has been solidly Democratic during the past two elections.

Chuy Garcia won in 2024 and 2022 by about 40 percentage points, both years in which Republicans won the House of Representatives. To be sure, Democrats are expected to have a better year and win back the House.

2026 Midterm ElectionsIllinois PoliticsJ.B. PritzkerChicago School BoardElectionNews