Carol Ammons, Urbana City Council member and former member of the Champaign County Board, defeated Sam Rosenberg in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for state representative of the 103rd district.

Ammons won with 3,298 votes, or 56.91 percent, while Rosenberg received 2,497 votes.

After winning, Ammons said she felt great and was a bit overwhelmed.

When asked about her future plans she said, “We’ll regroup and expand our campaign for the November election.”

Ammons’ career in public service led to endorsements from local organizations and community members, including the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union, Local 73, and the Graduate Employees Organization, Local 6300.

Ammons said she looks forward to working with all the Democrats in the house and advocating for issues including environmental regulations, a new graduated income tax and pension reform, among many other plans.

Ammons said her plans include to “expand this very huge effort … we’ll get more people involved in the campaign, we’ll grow the campaign further, we’ll raise more money for the general election, and we’ll go and be successful in November.”

Ammons said there are a lot of budgetary issues to work on.

“We also have education issues that are important — access to education is important and we have to rep around our retirees who are going to be affected by this pension change,” she said.

Previously, Ammons stated that if she were elected to the position of state representative, she would focus on a bipartisan effort to pass the graduated income tax, drug policy reform and environmental regulations, specifically regarding fracking and drilling.

Ammons is a supporter of moving toward a graduated income tax, which she said she believes would be beneficial for the state.

She is also a major proponent of the FairTax amendment and said she believes it will bring in necessary revenue — but she said it is important that this revenue is used toward education and paying off the state’s debts.

Ammons said she looks forward to being involved in environmental regulations, which she believes are not strong enough in areas of air and water quality protection.

“I’m hoping to be able to come to the table and come up with a solution that helps everybody, and that’s what we’ll be doing,” she said.

There was no incumbent for the 103rd state representative seat, as current Rep. Naomi Jakobsson decided not to run for re-election.

Rosenberg, Ammons’ rival, was endorsed by many local big name politicians, including Jakobsson, Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and Champaign Mayor Don Gerard. Rosenberg was scheduled to be at a viewing party, but he did not make an appearance. 

“I’m just really trying to enjoy the moment,” Ammons said after her victory was announced.

Bryan can be reached at [email protected].