Nikki Budzinski wins Democratic bid for 13th Congressional District, will face Regan Deering

In a race with no incumbent, six first-time candidates tried to take a seat in Congress to represent Illinois' newly drawn 13th District.

Nikki Budzinski, 44, of Springfield won the Democratic primary in the Illinois 13th Congressional District, beating her sole opponent, David Palmer.

Regan Deering won the Republican primary, holding off Jesse Reising in a tight race that featured two other candidates. Budzinski and Deering will square off in the general election on Nov. 8.

With 95% of the estimated votes counted, Budzinski had 76% of the votes to Palmer's 24%.

Illinois primary elections 2022: Get the latest live updates from the polls in Springfield

Budzinski is a longtime Democratic political operative and staffer with experience working in the administrations of President Joe Biden and Gov. JB Pritzker, who won his own primary Tuesday.

Budzinski also served on the staffs of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and International Association of Fire Fighters.

She also worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and Pritzker's first gubernatorial campaign.

Budzinski raised the most campaign cash of any candidate running for the seat. As of June 8, she had raised more than $1.73 million of contributions, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. Palmer raised $208,000.

Palmer is a financial adviser from Champaign. He has previously worked with the Boys and Girls Clubs and before that was a professional basketball player. Palmer played collegiately at Iowa and Seton Hall.

Palmer ran on a platform promising to advocate for expanding healthcare access.

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On the Republican side, the four-way race was between Deering, Reising, journalist Terry Martin and nonprofit director Matt Hausman.

Hausman came in third with Martin a distant fourth.

Deering is a member of the influential Andreas family, which has had several members serve as executives of Archer Daniels Midland and is active on the board of directors for the Northeast Community Fund in Decatur. She raised $373,700 during the campaign.

Her campaign focused on immigration reform, police funding and the economy.

Reising is a lawyer who has worked for Kirkland & Ellis, one of the world's largest law firms. Prior to that, he served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice working on economic crimes. He is also the founder and former president of a nonprofit focused on helping veterans entering higher education. He raised $457,800 during the campaign.

Reising's campaign focused on foreign policy, particularly on the country's relationship to China and Russia.

Contact Andrew Adams: aadams1@gannett.com; (312)-291-1417; twitter.com/drewjayadams.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Budzinski wins Democrat bid for US House seat, GOP winner unclear