Dillan Vancil defeated Julie Bickelhaupt in the Republican primary for Illinois’ 17th Congressional District on Tuesday and will face incumbent Democrat Eric Sorensen in November.

Vancil, an owner of a chain of coffee shops in western Illinois and southeast Iowa, ran on a platform of supporting small businesses, growing economic development and reducing the federal budget deficit.

Read the story.

Josh Higgins — an Air Force veteran, school board member, and crop insurance salesman from Henderson County — has won the Republican primary for the 94th State House District, ousting the longtime incumbent.

Read the story.

Austin “AJ” Cox has won the Republican primary for Warren County Sheriff.

Cox, an investigator with the Monmouth Police Department and a Warren County board member, beat three other candidates who ran in the Republican primary to succeed retiring Sheriff Martin Edwards.

With 27 of 28 precincts reporting, Cox has 38.9% of the vote. He received 913 votes. With those precincts reporting, Jack Baskett received 595, Jason Horner received 487, and Steve Thompson received 352.

Unless an independent candidate files to run, Cox will run unopposed in the November general election.

Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton has won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorhthi, who came in second, conceded.

Stratton will face Republican Don Tracy in the general election.

They're running to succeed Democratic Whip Dick Durbin.

Joe Moon has won the Republican primary for McDonough County Sheriff, defeating current Sheriff Nicholas Petitgout with nearly 55% percent of the vote.

Moon, a retired state trooper, received 2,133 votes to Petitgout’s 1753, according to unofficial results.

Petitgout was appointed to the seat in 2018, elected to it later that year, and reelected to it in 2022.

Unless an independent candidate files to run for the seat, Moon will run unopposed in the general election.

Don Tracy is the projected winner of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

He's a former chair of the state Republican party.

The Associated Press says Darren Bailey is the projected winner of the Republican primary for Illinois governor.

AP called the race with 36% percent of the vote in, and Bailey leading Ted Dabrowski by 16 points.

With 52% of the vote counted statewide, Juliana Stratton is leading the field of Democratic candidates running to succeed Democratic Whip Dick Durbin. She has 38.7% of the vote, followed by Raja Krisnamoorthi with 32.6% and Robin Kelly with 20.5%.

Don Tracy is leading the Republican primary with 37.9% of the vote, followed by Jeannie Evans at 21.5% and Casey Chlebek at 14%.

We're standing by, waiting for some local results to trickle in. In other words, repeatedly refreshing election results webpages.

Some early results are starting to come in elsewhere for statewide and Congressional races, which we're tracking here.

With just more over an hour left to vote, the Illinois State Board of Elections has a reminder.

If you're in line at 7 p.m., you are still allowed to vote.

They're also sharing all of their reminders in Spanish and English.

El tiempo corre, pero aún puedes votar. Recuerde que si está en la cola antes de las 19.00 horas, aún podrá votar.

McDonough County Clerk Jeremy Benson says he removed a poll worker in Macomb who made threatening remarks when a voter asked for a Democratic ballot today.

Benson says the poll worker will not be eligible to work in future elections.

Benson also says voter turnout today appears to be pretty solid for a primary.

AI-generated images and text are …. everywhere?

Just in the last month or so, it seems like everyone from restaurants to public bodies is using generative AI to create social media content for everything from daily specials to traffic alerts.

I’ve even seen a few campaign images — and posts — that had the distinct air of ChatGPT.

I’m not here to judge, just to point out that AI is a tool — and campaigns are using it, too.

— Jane

Any journalist will tell you that election night is synonymous with pizza, sometimes to the point that the newsroom calculation is a whole pie (or more) per reporter. (Hey, we work late.)

This election, I'm afraid I'm breaking with tradition, in part because I'm working from home tonight — and in part because it's March 17. I have corned beef brisket in the crock pot, which will be delicious tonight, but it sure doesn't scream "election night" to this reporter.

The last time we had a St. Paddy's Day Primary was 2020, by the way. Before that, it was 1998.

— Jane

TSPR is covering contested primaries tonight. Here are a few we will tabulating and reporting on.

McDonough County Sheriff — Republican Primary
Warren County Sheriff — Republican Primary
State Senate District 36 — Republican Primary
State House District 94 — Republican Primary

Here are some other races we will bring you results on as the night progresses. They cover way too many counties for our small but mighty TSPR team to tabulate, but we'll bring you what we know as soon as we know it.

Governor — Republican Primary
Comptroller — Democratic Primary
U.S. Senate — Democratic Primary
U.S. Senate — Republican Primary
15th Congressional District — Democratic Primary
15th Congressional District — Republican Primary
17th Congressional District — Republican Primary

If you're in McDonough or Warren county, there's an advisory referendum on your primary ballot this year.

The Illinois Policy Institute put it on ballots in some counties and townships across the state. It asks whether Illinois should opt into a new federal tax scholarship program included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Iowa and Missouri have already opted in.

But the Illinois Education Association is asking residents to vote no on the referendum. The union says the referendum is misleading and the federal plan would take tax dollars away from public schools and give them to private schools.

Read more about the advisory referendum here.

Polls are open for the primary election in Illinois, and will remain so until 7 p.m.

Party members are choosing their nominees for governor and other statewide offices. We also have a few contested primaries in the region for Congress and the state legislature, as well as some county offices.

Still not decided on who to vote for? You can check out our candidate questionnaires for contested races here.

During the day, we will let you know what races we're watching, share some details about campaign finances, and more.

After the polls close tonight, you can find vote totals and analysis here on our live blog.