Will County Gazette

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) easily topped Republican primary challenger Mickey Straub in the 82nd House District race Tuesday night.

With 47 of 91 precincts counted, Durkin led Straub 4,257 votes to 1,937, or 68.73 percent to 31.27 percent.

Straub, the mayor of Burr Ridge, waged his campaign on an anti-establishment message and painted himself as a Springfield outsider.

He contrasted his independence against what he said was Durkin’s machine-like connections and argued Springfield has become too much about self-preservation.

“We have to have term limits,” he told the Will County Gazette. “Right now, we have too many politicians with too much power making decisions that are all about them instead of the people they are supposed to be representing.”

Straub said he wanted to return Illinois to the days of being a “destination state” and particularly wanted to stop the groundswell of millennials who are now choosing to leave the state.