Recent Election Updates

Updates on elections in Illinois, New York and Minnesota. IL-05 Special Election Newly elected Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) earned a 69-24 percent victory over Republican Rosanna Pulido in the seat formerly held by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Quigley will officially be sworn in April 21, when the House returns from the spring recess. Though he does not have committee assignments yet, Quigley's work on environmental, infrastructure and transit issues might make him a fit for the Energy and Commerce and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. NY-20 Special Election According to the New York State Board of Elections, Republican Jim Tedisco leads Democrat Scott Murphy by 24 votes while counties complete the recanvassing of their voting machines. Counties in the 20th District will be able to begin counting absentee ballots today, and military and overseas ballots can be returned by Monday. MN Senate Democrat Al Franken's lead over Sen. Norm Coleman in the Minnesota race widened to 312 votes yesterday - a gain of 87 - due to a court-supervised count of 351 additional absentee ballots, a fraction of the ballots Coleman requested to be counted. The candidates are awaiting a three-judge panel's final decision in St. Paul, Minn., on Coleman's challenge to the earlier recount that put Franken ahead in the race. Should Coleman lose, he could appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court and, ultimately, ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his equal protection argument. Democrats control the U.S. Senate 58-41, and a win by Franken would put them one vote short of the 60 needed to overcome filibusters that can stall legislation.