Democrat Eric Sorensen has defeated Republican Esther Joy King to win an open seat in Illinois' 17th congressional district, according to a projection from NBC News.
The district includes the Quad Cities metropolitan area as well as parts of Bloomington, Normal, Peoria and Rockford.
The seat is currently held by five-term Democratic Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, who announced her retirement at the end of her current term last year. Esther Joy King was also the Republican nominee for the seat in 2020, when she was narrowly defeated by Bustos.
With the victory in the 17th district, Democrats will hold 14 of the state's 17 seats in the House of Representatives at the start of the next Congress in January 2023.
Republicans had sought to pick up several districts in Illinois, running competitive campaigns in the 6th, 11th and 14th districts that are based out of the Chicago suburbs.
Illinois Republicans also targeted the 17th district as a prime pickup opportunity, but the loss mirrors what state Republicans saw in the 13th district, where Democrats picked up the open seat currently held by Republican Rodney Davis by nearly 10 points in Nikki Budzinski's victory over Regan Deering.
Ultimately, Democrats across the state held on to all of the congressional districts in the Chicago area while adding a seat heading into the next Congress.
Illinois Midterm Election 2022
A look at complete coverage before, during and after the midterm elections in Illinois for 2022, including major races like ones for governor, the Illinois Supreme Court, Secretary of State and more.
The 118th U.S. Congress will be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2023.
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