The 2026 Illinois midterms featured a slew of Democratic wins across the ballot as part of sweeping victories for the party across the country.
In perhaps the most consequential result for Illinois' commercial real estate investors, Democrat Pat Hynes handily won the race for Cook County assessor, defeating Libertarian challenger Nico Tsatsoulis by a margin of about 85% to 15%.
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Hynes, who unseated two-term incumbent Fritz Kaegi in the March Democratic primary, has promised to make the Assessor's Office "boring again" by being more predictable and accurate.
The former Lyons Township assessor plans to create a new department in the Assessor's Office called the Department of Economic Development, which will work with aldermen and mayors to offer transparency in the assessment process for new development.
Hynes is the second member of his family to lead the Assessor's Office. His uncle Thomas Hynes held the role from 1979 to 1997.
Siegel Jennings partner Molly Phelan told Bisnow on Tuesday that she believes Hynes' win will bring more tax certainty to Cook County — and investors in tow.
"I'm very bullish on development in Cook County because we're going to have a new assessor coming in," Phelan said. "I think we're going to have government that understands that we need more taxpayers and more buildings coming in to level out the property tax base."
Elsewhere in Illinois, incumbent Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker comfortably secured a third term, capturing about 60% of the vote and defeating Republican challenger Darren Bailey and independent opponent Collin Corbett.
Pritzker has been a major backer of the sprawling Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the South Side but has taken a more cautious approach to data center development in the state in 2026.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton made history in her U.S. Senate win, as she will become the sixth Black woman to ever serve in the Senate. Alexi Giannoulias, who is a front-runner in the 2027 Chicago mayoral election, also won his campaign for secretary of state by a margin of 64% to 35%.
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