ILLINOIS – Democratic incumbent Nikki Budzinski and Republican candidate Joshua Lloyd faced off in the race for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. For the past two weeks, central and southern Illinois voters hit the polls, and now the preliminary results have arrived.
Budzinski has defeated Lloyd to retain her seat in Congress, which represents many of the St. Louis region’s Metro East communities, according to Race Call projections from the Associated Press.
Budzinski has held her seat for the past two years and fights to keep it since flipping the district from red to blue. Lloyd, who has never run for office, worked his way up through state and federal campaigns and won his primary by a small margin.
Budzinski was supported with over $4.1 million in campaign contributions, while Lloyd was backed with just under $79,000 in campaign support.
Before taking office, Budzinski worked as a senior advisor chair of the Broadband Advisory Council with the Office of the Governor of Illinois. During the 2022 race for the district’s seat, she beat republican candidate Regan Deering by 13.2%.
During her first term, Budzinski highlighted bipartisan policies and, according to her website, aims to tackle gas and energy prices, fighting inflation while providing tax relief to the middle class.
“I really try to prioritize bipartisanship and common sense solutions. And I have some real deliverables, whether it’s in Springfield, or Monticello and Champaign, and then all the way down to East Saint Louis,” Budzinski told affiliate station WCIA.