11/07/2008
Democrats Continue to Dominate House and Senate
Dan Duffy, cofounder of Effective Data Inc. in Schaumburg, Ill., added one more item to his resume Nov. 4: state senator.
Duffy, who is a member of the NFIB/Illinois Leadership Council and chairman of the Lake/Cook Area Action Council, ran for the 26th state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Bill Peterson. The district, which includes parts of Lake, McHenry and Cook counties, was a top target of the senate Democrats.
Duffy, who has never run for political office before, won with 64 percent of the vote and was one of the few bright spots for Republicans on election night.
Sen. Gary Dahl, another NFIB member, was re-elected to his second term to the Illinois Senate from the 38th District. Dahl, who has a 100 percent voting record with NFIB, represents LaSalle-Peru all the way east to Kankakee. Dahl has emerged as a leader on business issues within the state Senate and truly understands what it is like to sign the front of the check, not just the back of the check.
Rep. Ron Wait also won a hard-fought challenge in the Rockford area. Wait, who won with 55 percent of the vote, is also an NFIB member.
Tuesday night's election will result in more Democrats in Springfield. While the makeup of the Illinois Senate remains the same, the Illinois House Democrats picked up three seats putting their majority at 70 members versus 48 for Republicans.
The NFIB/Illinois political action committee was active in this year's election, spending more than $70,000 on cash contributions and political mailings to small business members.
