Nabila Syed Wins Illinois Senate District 26 Seat, Defeating Republican Darby Hills With 57 Percent of the Vote

Democratic candidate Nabila Syed has won the Illinois state Senate seat for District 26 in the United States. In the northwestern suburban district, she defeated incumbent Republican Senator Darby Hills.

According to the Associated Press, with about 94 percent of votes counted, Nabila Syed had received 57 percent of the vote, a total of 48,051 votes. Her opponent Darby Hills received 43 percent, a total of 36,282 votes.

The victory by 27-year-old Nabila Syed further strengthened the Democrats' outright majority in the Illinois Senate, the report said. She is a resident of the Inverness area.

Alisa Kaplan, executive director of the election data watchdog Reform for Illinois, said about 6.5 million dollars was spent campaigning for this seat. In her assessment, it was one of the most expensive General Assembly election contests in the state's history.

Syed also led in fundraising. She alone raised at least 4.7 million dollars, a large part of it from the Illinois Democratic Party, funds controlled by Senate President Don Harmon, and labour unions.

Darby Hills, by contrast, was able to raise 1.8 million dollars. In a statement after the vote, Hills accused the Democrats of huge spending and of 'unfair tactics' in the campaign.

On the night of Tuesday, November 3, after her victory was announced, Nabila Syed told supporters that their campaign team and volunteers had been able to speak door to door not out of a hunger for votes, but with empathy about the main problems in people's everyday lives.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Nabila Syed previously served as the youngest woman and the first Muslim member of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Speaking about attacks from opponents during the campaign over her age and religious identity, she said she had faced extreme hostility and frightening situations while campaigning, and that even though she grew up in this district, she was having to prove that she was born in this country.

Darby Hills, a 50-year-old former prosecutor and former trustee of Barrington Hills, had made Syed's young age and experience a central campaign issue and in the final days labelled her an 'extremist'.

Democrats also won big in other Illinois races. In Senate District 24, Democrat Benjamin McAdams defeated Republican Senator Seth Lewis with 55 percent of the vote. In House District 52, Democrat Maria Peterson won 56 percent to defeat Republican Martin McLaughlin, who had won in 2024 by a margin of only 50 votes.

In Senate District 14, Democratic Senator Emil Jones III won easily with about 75 percent of the vote despite a federal investigation. Through this election, Democrats have retained their strong position in both the Illinois House of Representatives and the Senate.