Downers Grove's Casten wins fifth term in Congress

Downers Grove Rep. Sean Casten will return to Washington for a fifth term after the Associated Press called his race in Illinois' 6th Congressional District on election night.

The AP projected Casten the winner at 9:37 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, with 62% of votes counted, according to Shaw Local. Casten, a Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Niki Conforti in a rematch of their 2024 contest.

With 75% of ballots tallied across DuPage County, suburban Cook County and Chicago neighborhoods, Casten held 138,850 votes (63.3%) to Conforti's 80,503 (36.7%), according to unofficial totals reported by Patch. The margin was wide. Results remain unofficial until certified by election authorities.

Casten declared victory in a statement. "As I look toward the next Congress, I'm excited to advance an agenda that brings costs down while conducting rigorous oversight of the Executive Branch," he said, according to Patch.

He thanked voters and volunteers. In the statement, Casten said the country's democratic experiment had "come under attack" and its institutions had been "tarnished" over the past two years.

The 6th District covers portions of suburban Cook and DuPage counties and Chicago's Southwest Side. Casten has represented the district since 2019, when he toppled Republican incumbent Peter Roskam in the old 6th District before redistricting.

Before entering Congress, Casten said he spent 20 years in the private sector running companies dedicated to profitably reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In a pre-election questionnaire with Patch, Casten called the dominant issue in the district "rising angst about the state of the country." He described voters worried about inflation eating into their spare income, fears about armed ICE officers and a sense that laws don't apply equally to the wealthy.

Conforti, a Republican energy consultant, had hoped to flip the seat. She said "kitchen table" issues affecting household budgets were the most pressing concern in the district and blamed high gas prices and grocery costs on Democratic policies, Patch reported.