Dupage Policy Journal

Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) recently summed up her successful run for re-election to the Illinois House of Representatives.

“I had name recognition and people knew what I stand for,” Grant told the DuPage Policy Journal. “I spent a lot of time talking with a lot of people and I understand the change we all want to see coming from Springfield.”

She was one Republican who broke through the Democratic wave that has run through Illinois for years.

Democrats have controlled the Illinois House since 1997, according to Ballotpedia, and they have controlled the Illinois Senate since 2003. 

While many of Illinois' counties are Republican, election results are skewed by Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, which are extremely Democratic, Fox News reports. 

With the Chicago-area backing, Gov. J.B. Pritzker was re-elected to serve a second term.

"To the many Illinoisans who exercised their civic duty at the polls or by mail: thank you for believing in our democracy,” Pritzker said on Twitter after his win. “I serve ALL the people of Illinois and I look forward to working for you these next four years.” 

If Republicans want to effect change in Illinois, they will have to figure out how to reach those voters in and around Chicago.

“Make sure people know what you stand for,” Grant said in offering advice to Republicans in the future. “So much of what’s happening in Springfield is not what people want to see. So, that makes it important that these candidates know who you are and understand what changes have to happen in this state.”

Like many of her GOP colleagues, she put making changes to the SAFE-T Act at the top of her to-do list. 

“The first thing is we’ve got to do something about the SAFE-T Act,” Grant said. “It’s not good for Illinois and things are only going to get worse because of it. We’ve also got to do something about making this a place where businesses want to be, because as it is all the taxes are taking far too much a toll on everyone.”

She said her impression of the Nov. 8 election was “that people want to see change and they want it now.”