Illinois House District 52 election results

State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, set out on Tuesday to stave off a deep-pocketed challenge from Democratic challenger Maria Peterson in a bid to win a third term in the northwest suburban 52nd House District.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch put all the party’s chips behind Peterson, a retired attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor who lost a 2022 state Senate campaign by fewer than 400 votes.

The speaker directed more than $1.2 million to Peterson’s campaign, which painted McLaughlin as a hardline conservative in the purple 52nd House District that stretches north to Wauconda.

McLaughlin, an investment advisor who sought a third term, had only raised about $90,000 for his campaign since June, with some support from organized labor. He won reelection by almost five points in 2022 in the once solidly Republican district, which went to President Joe Biden in 2020.

Peterson said she would push for an amendment adding abortion rights to the state constitution. McLaughlin has called himself “an advocate for life” who follows former President Bill Clinton’s 1990s-era mantra of keeping abortion “safe, legal and rare.”