The Sean Casten winning streak continues.
Casten, a Democrat from Downers Grove, claimed victory for the 6th District congressional seat Tuesday night. It’s his fifth straight congressional victory in as many tries.
In Cook County, he unofficially had a 59.98%-40.02% lead over Republic challenger Niki Conforti of Glen Ellyn with 98% of the precincts reporting and 109,219 ballots cast. In DuPage County, he held a 65.04-34.96% lead with 123,625 votes cast.
The results will become official when the counties ratify the ballots in the coming weeks.
Casten was happy with the preliminary results.
“If you’ve ever been to one of my town halls, you’ve probably heard me say that democracy is a participatory sport,” he said on Election Night. “For 250 years, Americans have made their way into a voting booth and decided that our democratic experiment is worth participating in.
“Over the last two years, we’ve seen that experiment come under attack.”
That’s one of the reasons he wants another two years in Washington. He wants to turn things around.
“Our institutions have been tarnished,” he said. “The cost of living has skyrocketed. The White House has prioritized pay-to-play politics that benefit the wealthy over policies that help working-class Americans.
“As I look toward the next Congress, I’m excited to advance an agenda that brings costs down while conducting rigorous oversight of the Executive Branch.”
He said that Election Night was a time to celebrate, but it’s a short celebration.
“Tomorrow, we will get back to work,” he said. “Onward.”
In 2018, Casten opened his congressional career winning the Democratic Primary with 29.5% of the votes (19,774) over six other candidates. He went on to beat incumbent Peter Roskam 53.6-46.4%, amassing 169,001 votes.
In 2020, he ran unopposed in the primary and scored 52.8% of the vote (213,777 overall) in his victory over Jeanne Ives, who was at 45.4% (183,891).
The boundaries changed for the 2022 election and the south suburban area was included on the new map. After easily holding off Marie Newman in the primary (45,654-19,726), Casten beat former Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau 54.4-45.6% and garnered 150,496 votes.
In 2024, he had another easy time in the primary with 77.1% of the votes (56,750) while Mahoor Ahmad gained 14.2% and Charles Hughes had 8.6%.
That set up the first showdown with Conforti, which he won.
Conforti felt strong going into Election Night. As a person who worked in health care and was an energy consultant and felt she could have been a valuable member of Congress with her expertise on those areas.
The district includes all or portions of various Southwest Regional Publishing communities Orland Park, Palos Heights, Palos Park, Oak Lawn, Hickory Hills, Evergreen Park, Worth, Chicago Ridge, Palos Hills, Bridgeview, Willow Springs, Countryside, Hodgkins, and Chicago’s Clearing and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods.
It also includes several west suburban communities, where Casten and Conforti live.
