Alexi Giannoulias is headed back to the Illinois Secretary of State's office for a second term, with NBC News projecting Tuesday night that he defeated Republican challenger Diane Harris. The win keeps the office in Democratic hands at a moment when Giannoulias is also mounting a run for Chicago mayor, a dual campaign that has drawn legal pushback from rivals.
NBC News called the race based on data from the Associated Press, with its Decision Desk making the projection, according to NBC Chicago. As of the snapshot captured on NBC News's live results page, 61.6 percent of expected votes had been counted — a reminder that the race had not yet been finalized even after the projection was made. The same results page credited the underlying data to the Associated Press and the projection itself to the NBC News Decision Desk.
A Rare Republican Challenge Falls Short
Harris's campaign represented an uphill climb from the start. Illinois had not elected a Republican secretary of state in nearly 30 years, per a separate WBEZ report on the state's down-ballot races. Giannoulias first won the office in 2022 after Jesse White retired following decades leading the department, the station's earlier report noted.
During the campaign, the two candidates staked out different positions on how the state tests aging drivers. WBEZ reported that Giannoulias rolled back testing requirements for elderly drivers, while Harris favored testing requirements across all age groups — a contrast that became one of the race's clearer policy divides.
Record on Modernization and REAL ID
In his first term, Giannoulias's office prioritized greater efficiency and convenience for motorists, particularly through services made available online, the station's report noted. He also oversaw the rollout of REAL ID-compliant identification cards and spearheaded a supercenter in Chicago to help residents sign up for the cards ahead of a federal deadline, per the same account. Giannoulias additionally supported the state's prohibition on book bans during his tenure, the outlet reported.
A Mayoral Run Complicates the Succession Question
Giannoulias is simultaneously running for mayor of Chicago, and his candidacy for that office has faced legal challenges from multiple mayoral rivals who argue he cannot seek two offices at once, the station's report said. Should he win the mayoral race, his replacement as secretary of state would be appointed by the governor and would serve out the remainder of his term, according to the same NBC Chicago report.
Accounts of exactly how long that appointment would last diverge. WBEZ reported that if Giannoulias won both races, it would allow Gov. JB Pritzker to appoint a secretary of state for a full term — a different description than the remainder-of-term scenario laid out by NBC Chicago.
For now, the outcome of the mayoral eligibility challenges remains unresolved, and the secretary of state race itself was still being tallied at the time of the projection. What's clear is that Giannoulias, who also advocated that immigration agents follow state laws on area roadways — including proper license plates and identification, per the station's reporting — is positioned to keep leading the office he's held since 2022, even as his political future in Chicago remains an open question.
