Kirk Dillard Re-Elected After Landslide Win Over A. Ghani

State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) will serve another term in the Illinois Senate after a convincing win in Tuesday's General Election over Democratic candidate A. Ghani of Oak Brook in the race for Illinois' 24th State Senate District.

Dillard won by , which spans across the westerns suburbs and includes, among other towns, Clarendon Hills, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, Lisle, Lombard, Oak Brook, Western Springs, Westmont and Wheaton.

Dillard also had 2,429 of 3,209 Cook County votes, with all Cook precincts reporting.

The Republican senator has represented the 24th since he was first elected in 1994.

"I thank the voters for returning me to Springfield, where I’ll work harder than ever to make Illinois work again," Dillard said. 

A call to the phone number listed on Ghani's campaign website was not immediately returned.

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Dillard, who captured more than 60 percent of the vote in his March primary win over State Rep. Chris Nybo (R-Lombard), spent his election night at the results reception of fellow Hinsdale resident and U.S. Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL), who lost her bid for the 11th Congressional District seat to Democrat Bill Foster.

Dillard said he was pleased with his results, but felt for fellow Republicans who lost.

"I'm very sad that some of my colleagues like Congresswoman Biggert didn't prevail," he said.

Dillard served as the chief of staff to Gov. Jim Edgar in the 1990s. He ran for governor himself in 2010 but lost narrowly in the Republican primary to Bill Brady.

Now that the 2012 election is behind him, Dillard said, he'll "let the dust settle for just a little while" before traveling around the state to seek advice from the business community, civic leaders, and Illinois GOP officials on whether or not he should make another run at the governor's office in 2014.

"I have a unique set of skills and a plan to make Illinois a destination economy for job creators and get our state back on a solid fiscal footing," Dillard said.

He said suburbanites face major issues, such as Metra's future operation and state legislation that, if passed, would push teacher pension obligations onto property tax bills.

"It is time for a suburban governor," Dillard said. 

The Republican senator said in a Patch questionnaire before the March primary that his goal is to create that destination economy in Illinois for job creators by promoting fiscal stability, pension reform, and ethics reform. 

Dillard, who was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune, believes job growth will come with "efficient, transparent and ethical state government with less regulation and lower taxes."

On social issues, Dillard told Patch he is pro-life and believes marriage is between one man and one woman.

Dillard is an attorney and native of Hinsdale, where he currently resides with his wife, Stephanie, and the couple's two young daughters. He told Patch his political heroes are Abraham Lincoln and Richard Oglesby, who served as Illinois' governor in the 1860s.