Democrat Paul Faraci will remain State Senator for the Illinois General Assembly’s 52nd District, beating Republican Jeff Brownfield.
According to the Champaign County Clerk’s office, unofficial results on Wednesday morning show Faraci winning with 70.05% of the district’s votes.
“We’ve got … a lot of campaign folks that have done a tremendous amount of work to help me, and I’m just really appreciative of all they’ve done for the people in Vermillion and Champaign County,” Faraci said.
The state senator will begin his first full term in January. His current term began when he was appointed to the role by local Democratic Party chairpersons in late 2022 after his friend and previous 52nd District State Senator Scott Bennett died of cancer.
He said continuing the work of Bennett is a priority during a second term.
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“We miss Senator Scott Bennett a tremendous amount … We’re going to do everything we can to help maintain Scott Bennett’s legacy and take care of the working people in the 52nd District and do a better job assisting people with disabilities,” Faraci said.
While continuing Bennett’s work, he also hopes to address additional policy challenges.
“We’ve got early childhood issues … and education in general,” Faraci said. “We need a better workforce, and we need to continue to work on economic development to strengthen the financial position right here in the 52nd District.”
Faraci was present at various polling stations on campus on Election Day, handing out snacks, pizza and water bottles to voters.
“We want to make sure that everybody (has) the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, so obviously (it’s) critical that people can get out and cast their vote for their candidates,” Faraci said. “We wanted to make sure we helped take care of them so they could do that and exercise their right to vote in a free and fair democracy.”
Faraci served as the City of Champaign’s township assessor from 2011 to 2017 and the city’s deputy mayor from 2015 to 2017; before that, he was an account manager for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
The Illinois General Assembly’s 52nd District stretches from just west of Champaign to Illinois’ eastern border with Indiana, including Danville.
The Daily Illini is currently awaiting comment from Brownfield.
