The Illinois State Senate District 26 seat will continue to be held by freshman senator Dan Duffy. 

Duffy beat opponent Amanda Howland by clinching 144,163 votes to Howland's 24,558. 

Duffy tells Patch reporters he had volunteers working on his campaign all year, and had 35 interns helping spread the word about his campaign platforms. He enjoyed campaigning, but is looking forward to getting back to work as a state senator. 

"I can't wait to get back to Springfield to attack this pension problem. We're adding $12.6 million of new pension liability every day. We need to come up with a bipartisan solution. Until we solve this pension problem there is no money for anything else," he said. 

Duffy, a Lake Barrington resident and small business owner, is also the Republican spokesperson on the pension committee. His opponent Amanda Howland is a lawyer and resident of unincorporated Lake Zurich. 

Illinois State Senate District 26 Results Page