Illinois primary elections get underway Tuesday

ILLINOIS (WFIE) - Primary elections are set to get underway in Illinois Tuesday.

There are a couple of local races.

There’s the race for sheriff in Edwards County.

There are a couple of candidates on the republican side. Darby Boewe is seeking re-election while Debbie Judge is running against him.

White County is also choosing a republican in the race for sheriff. In that race, you got Jordan Weiss and Mark Worlds.

There are a lot of eyes on the state level of this primary.

It’s the first elections since the Supreme Court revoked a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

Darren Bailey is the leading Republican gubernatorial candidate. He’s a farmer who was endorsed by former President Trump.

Reports say he wants to repeal the state’s guaranteed right to abortion.

He’s up against five other candidates on the republican side, including Paul Schimph, Gary Rabine and Richard Irvin.

Officials say, Irvin, the first Black mayor of Illinois’ second-largest city, was a top candidate but was damaged by repeated attacks.

Also on the list are Max Solomon and Jesse Sullivan.

Each Republican has spent months trying to showcase his conservative credentials as they all try to appeal to the GOP base.

Incumbent Governor J.B. Pritzker is running for a second term.

He’s facing one opponent in the Democratic primary, Beverly Miles.

Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association have spent heavily on advertising to help Bailey win the GOP primary.

Those messages improved Bailey’s standing with Republican voters.

However, officials say it will hurt in a general election in a state where voters twice rejected Trump by double digits.

Seven other states also have primary elections Tuesday.

At the Floral Hall in Carmi, the flow of voters all morning was steady.

One poll worker says it felt pretty slow to them. Carmi resident Faye Pollard says she thinks that slowness at the poll could be from people giving up on voting.

Pollard says that there’s a reason she’s been coming to vote at every election since she became eligible. She says it’s because it matters.

“You can make a difference. If we didn’t think so, we wouldn’t be here, but we still believe in the right to vote, and that vote does make a difference,” says Pollard.

The polls close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28.

You can view the full race results here.

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