Democratic incumbents Jackson, Kelly rack up big leads in U.S. House Districts 1 and 2

Incumbent Democrats Johnathon Jackson and Robin Kelly appear to be on their way to winning their bids for another term in Congress, based on unofficial vote totals from Tuesday’s General Election.

Kelly, who has served in Congress since 2012, is from south suburban Cook County. She is challenged by Republican Ashley Ramos from Clifton, who has a background in health care and then worked for an insurance company before serving as an e-commerce specialist.

With 100% of the votes counted, Kelly has a comfortable lead, getting 67% of the votes, or 180,802 compared with Ramos, who has 32% of votes, or 88,262. Kelly won Cook and Will counties but Ramos led in Kankakee and Livingston counties.

Jackson, who represents Illinois’ 1st Congressional District that covers portions of Cook, Kankakee and Will counties, was first elected in 2022, filling the seat long held by fellow Chicago Democrat Bobby Rush. Jackson’s opponent is Republican Lewis Marcus from Matteson in suburban Cook County, who was running for his first elected office.

With 100% of votes counted, Jackson has 64% of the vote, or 189,497 votes, compared with Marcus’ 35%, or 105,408 votes. Lewis won the majority vote in Will and Kankakee counties but Jackson dominated in Cook County.