A long night of waiting eventually paid off for Democratic State Senate candidate Mike Frerichs. Around 1 a.m. last night, Frerichs’ Republican opponent, Judy Myers, called to congratulate him on winning the Senate Race in the 52nd district. Frerichs says victory was a great way to end the final stretch of a grueling campaign.

“It’s the second night in a row with less than 3 hours of sleep, but I’m feeling very good. I’m very happy with the results. And living off of adrenaline and caffeine right now.”

The defeat was especially hard for the Republican Party because it gave the Democrats a supermajority, or three-fifths control, in the Illinois State Senate. This will allow them to override any gubernatorial veto with their number of seats. Myers said she hopes the Senate Democrats will still keep the interests of the state in mind despite their “veto-proof” majority.

“I think that it’s not healthy for the state, but there it is, so I hope the legislators will do what’s right for the state.”

However, Frerichs points out that the Senate does not have the final say on all state legislative matters.

“The problem is, for any legislation to be passed if it’s vetoed, it has to go through both the House AND the Senate, and there is not a veto-proof majority in the House.”

Frerichs also added that the veto-proof majority is not such a big deal since Democrats don’t always vote together on issues in the State Senate.