Voters in neighboring Sangamon and Pike counties decided several closely watched races Tuesday night, including a contested sheriff’s race, a county board seat tied to the ongoing data center debate, and an upset in a county clerk’s race.
In Sangamon County, Republican Sheriff Paula Crouch won her first full term in office, defeating Democrat Marc Bell by a vote of 41,123 to 35,182.
Bell held an early lead Tuesday night before returns from the county’s more heavily Republican rural precincts pushed Crouch ahead.
Crouch was appointed sheriff in September 2024 following the resignation of Jack Campbell amid the fallout from the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey by former Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson.
Campbell’s administration faced intense scrutiny over Grayson’s hiring, despite warning signs in his previous employment and military records. Crouch has faced questions of her own about reforms and accountability within the department since taking office.
Her victory makes her the first woman elected sheriff in Sangamon County history.
Elsewhere in Sangamon County, Republican Richard “Rich” King defeated Democrat Tara Bergschneider for the open District 7 County Board seat.
Unofficial results show King receiving 1,596 votes to Bergschneider’s 952.
Both candidates had expressed concerns about the impact of data centers and large-scale energy developments on agricultural land in western Sangamon County.
Bergschneider, a nurse from New Berlin, had been a vocal critic of the county’s approval of a CyrusOne data center project earlier this year.
King, a retired Illinois Department of Transportation employee and former New Berlin Township official, also raised concerns during the campaign about electrical capacity, water supplies, property values, and the loss of farmland to data centers and solar developments.
King will succeed Craig Hall, who did not seek another term.
Meanwhile, voters in heavily Republican Pike County crossed party lines in the race for county clerk.
Democrat Brenda DeSpain defeated Republican Ashley Greger by a vote of 3,010 to 2,768.
DeSpain, a Perry resident and former Pike County Highway Department office manager, will succeed Republican Natalie Roseberry, who withdrew from the race in June to pursue law school.
Roseberry had been the only candidate in the March Republican primary. DeSpain entered the race as a Democrat in May, and county Republicans later selected Greger as their replacement candidate in July.
DeSpain currently works part-time as a legal assistant and serves as treasurer for two area drainage and levee districts.
DeSpain told the Jacksonville Journal-Courier that her election as a Democrat in a predominantly Republican county sends a message that voters were dissatisfied with the way things were going and were ready for change.
In another Pike County election, voters in two small Illinois River communities overwhelmingly approved consolidating their fire protection districts.
Voters approved merging the Pearl Fire Protection District into the Spring Creek Fire Protection District by a vote of 171 to 68.
The referendum also establishes a maximum allowable property tax rate of 30 cents per 100 dollars of equalized assessed valuation for the consolidated district.