Kay
Prenzler
Voters in Madison County favored the GOP in a big way this election, reversing a pattern that has existed at least throughout the last decade.
One of the biggest benefactors of the Republican wave was Dwight Kay of Glen Carbon. Kay upset 20-year incumbent State Rep. Jay Hoffman, a Democrat from Collinsville, by an overall margin of 3.6 percent in a district that includes mainly Madison County and a small portion of St. Clair County.
Hoffman has easily held off challenges over the last two decades, beating some opponents by 20 points or more. Just two years ago, he topped Kay 57-43 percent in Madison County.
But yesterday's results in Madison County show a reversal of fortune. Kay received 53 percent of the vote to Hoffman's 47 percent. A total of 31,553 ballots were cast in the 112th House race in Madison County, down 14,573 ballots two years ago during the presidential election. The vote total on Tuesday was 16,592 votes for Kay and 14,961 votes for Hoffman in Madison County, a difference of 1,631 votes.
Republicans in top ticket races also had strong showings this election in Madison County. For Senate, Republican Mark Kirk received 54 percent of the vote to Democrat Alexi Giannoulias's 40 percent. For Governor, the Brady-Plummer ticket also got 54 percent to the Quinn-Simon ticket's 40 percent.
Republican Lt. Gov. candidate Jason Plummer is from Edwardsville. The governor's race had still not been decided as of Wednesday morning.
Since July, Hoffman has raised more than $480,000, on top of nearly $500,000 he held in reserve.
Hoffman, an attorney of counsel with the LakinChapman firm in Wood River, received sizable contributions from the local plaintiff's bar.
Attorney Randy Gori gave Hoffman a $20,000 individual contribution; Gori's partner Barry Julian gave Hoffman $17,500; the Edwardsville firm Gori Julian & Associates gave $2,500.
Goldenberg Heller Antognoli & Rowland of Edwardsville gave Hoffman $1,000.
And, the Simmons firm gave a significant contribution of $20,000.
Kay, who is a vice president of Edwardsville-based Cassens Transport, raised more than $400,000 since the beginning of July.
The House Republican Organization and the Illinois Republican Party helped finance his campaign.
Other significant outcomes in Madison County include the Treasurer and Recorder of Deeds races which went for the GOP candidates.
Republican Kurt Prenzler defeated sitting Treasurer Frank Miles by 4,418 votes, or a margin of 53 to 47 percent.
Miles, a Democrat, raised more than $67,000 since the beginning of the year to Prenzler's $3,395.
In the Recorder's race, Republican Matt Rice defeated sitting Recorder Kyle Anderson, a Democrat, by 4,470 votes, also by a margin of 53 to 47 percent.
Since the beginning of the year, Anderson raised $53,235 to Rice who raised $30,526.
In each election since 2000, top of the ticket races (and the 112th House District race) have gone for Democrats in Madison County:
In 2000, Presidential candidate Al Gore topped George Bush 53 to 44 percent. Hoffman beat Republican challenger Ginny Ryan 62 to 38 percent.
In 2002, Rod Blagojevich defeated Jim Ryan 56 to 42 percent. Blagojevich and Hoffman were close allies during the six years of the Blagojevich administration. Hoffman beat T. Allen Wright that year by 69 to 31 percent.
In 2004, John Kerry beat Bush 52 to 48 percent. Hoffman was unopposed that year.
In 2006, Blagojevich beat Judy Baar Topinka 56 to 40 percent. Hoffman defeated Carol Kugler 59 to 41 percent.
In 2008, Barack Obama beat John McCain 54 to 45 percent. Hoffman beat Kay 57 to 43 percent, or 26,100 to 20,026, a difference of 6,074 votes.