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Sen. Durbin Wins 5th Term Over Lesser-Known Challengers

Sen. Dick Durbin, who won a fifth term on Tuesday, is the second-highest ranking Democrat. He was first elected in 1996 and has been Democratic whip since 2005.
J. Scott Applewhite
/
AP
Sen. Dick Durbin, who won a fifth term on Tuesday, is the second-highest ranking Democrat. He was first elected in 1996 and has been Democratic whip since 2005.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin cruised to re-election Tuesday, handily winning over four lesser-known challengers.

The Associated Press called the race in his favor soon after polls closed at 7 p.m.

As expected, Durbin defeated Republican Mark Curran, Willie Wilson, Green Party nominee David Black, and Libertarian Danny Malouf.

As of 11:30 p.m., Durbin had won 52% of the vote vs. 41% for Curran, who came in a distant second.  

Durbin, 75, is Illinois’ senior senator. The Democrat from Springfield was first elected to the Senate in 1996. He is the Democratic whip, the No. 2 position among Senate Democrats.

Durbin last won re-election in 2014 with 53.5% of the vote, defeating Republican businessman Jim Oberweis.

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Ryan Denham started his career as a copy editor and later business and city government reporter at The Pantagraph in 2006. He later worked for WJBC radio in Bloomington. He now works in website development for Illinois State University and is a freelance reporter for WGLT.