“Republican state Senator Michael Connelly conceded to Democrat Laura Ellman Tuesday in the race for the 21st District seat”

“‘While election night ended with us hopeful, we soon learned in the three days that followed that 14,000 absentee ballots arrived at the DuPage Election Commission that still needed to be counted. Unfortunately, with those votes now counted, we are going to come up short,’ Connelly wrote…

“The race had remained too close to call for the two weeks after polls closed Nov. 6 as mail-in and provisional ballots were checked and counted. Vote counts from Will and DuPage counties Tuesday put Ellman, a Naperville resident, up by 1,074 votes. Ellman tallied 49,675 votes to Connelly’s 48,601.

“Ellman said she is honored to serve in the state Senate. ‘We always knew this was going to be a tight race, though I certainly never imagined how close it would be,’ Ellman said in a statement. ‘After 10 years with only one candidate on the ballot, I think people finally got a chance to make their voices heard. I am grateful for all the supporters, volunteers and voters who helped our campaign.’

“Ellman said she knocked on almost 8,000 doors and talked to thousands of people. ‘And I am committed to working even harder in the coming years to make sure Springfield is working for those values and addressing those concerns, and to make sure we have responsive, accountable representation for our communities,’ Ellman said…

“The district encompasses a strip of the west suburbs from a portion of Carol Stream in the north, south through Wheaton, Warrenville, Lisle and Naperville and into Will County in the south” (Naperville Sun/Chicago Tribune).