Feb 6, 2008 1:32 am US/Central
Oberweis, Foster Win 14th District Races
Candidates Will Face Each Other In Special Election Next Month
AURORA, Ill. (CBS) ―
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14th Congressional District Candidate Jim Oberweis on Super Tuesday.
CBS
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14th District Democratic candidate Bill Foster
CBS
Dairy magnate Jim Oberweis has won the Republican nomination to take over the seat formerly occupied by longtime House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Oberweis ran twice for U.S. Senate and once for governor, but lost all of the contests. But this time, with all of the precincts reporting, Oberweis has captured 43,909 votes, or 56 percent of the vote, compared to State Sen. Chris Lauzen's 32,027 votes, or 41 percent. The third Republican candidate, Michael Dilger, has received 1,826 votes, or 2 percent.
The 14th Congressional District was long occupied by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who endorsed Oberweis as his successor. Oberweis will face the Democratic nominee in a special election next month to finish Hastert's remaining term.
"It is clearly a humbling experience, and in my opinion, Denny has given a major part of his life and done a great job for not only our district, but our state and our country as well," Oberweis said Tuesday night. "I hope to do the best job I can to follow that tradition, and as I've said many times, the one thing I can guarantee you is at all times I will vote as I see best for our country and for our state and our district, rather than what I see to be the politically correct or politically motivated vote."
On the Democratic side, former Fermilab scientist Bill Foster defeated Yorkville carpenter Jonathan Laesch by barely 300 votes.
With all of the precincts reporting, Foster had captured 31,910 votes, or 42 percent of the vote, compared with 31,587 votes, also about 42 percent, for Laesch. The other candidates each had about 8 percent, with 5,757 votes for attorney Jotham Stein, and 5,947 votes for entrepreneur Joe Serra.
The district stretches from the far west suburbs of Chicago to counties near the Iowa border.
Oberweis and Foster will face each other on March 8.
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