Dupage Policy Journal

District 21 State Senate Republican candidate Kathleen Murray lost to incumbent Sen. Laura Ellman (D-Naperville). 

Murray congratulated her opponent and sent her appreciation to her supporters.

"Thank you all for your tremendous support and encouragement over the past year," Murray said. "I embarked on this incredible journey as I wasn’t content standing on the sidelines and complaining about the direction of our state, I took action and did what our founding fathers of this country wanted the citizens to do. While I am disappointed in the outcome I am so very grateful for all the new friendships and connections I’ve made throughout the community. This powerful experience has strengthened me as a person and laid the foundation for future endeavors. Congratulations to Laura Ellman on her win."

As of last count, Murray trailed with 41.8% of the vote with 35,161 votes, to Ellman’s 58.2% of the vote with 48,961 votes, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

In the final days of the campaign, Murray sounded the alarm against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s push to require vaccines for school children. In an op-ed, she advocated for a Parent’s Bill Of Rights. “If you elect Democrats, you could look forward to the future of the state sinking its claws into your children’s lives, even controlling their very bodies. We must fight back. Every person, and every parent has the right to choose or not to choose to get a vaccine. It is an individual choice and not a choice for the state. Unfortunately, this emphasizes the need for The Parent’s Bill of Rights,” she said.

Murray was an opponent of masking in Illinois. When Pritzker said he was lifting a masking order for the state but excluded schools and prisons, Murray poked fun at the decision. "Gov. J.B. Pritzker finally demonstrated some consistency in logic when he paired prisons and school classrooms together as exceptions to his plan to lift mask mandates this month," said Murray, in a written statement. "They have, after all, become one and the same under his and Democrat legislators’ watch."