McLean County Times

Scott Preston, a Normal town council member and owner of real estate investment company Preston Property Group, won the Republican primary in the 91st House District.

According to Ballotpedia, he received 4,683 votes while his opponent, James Fisher, received 2,800 votes.

"THANK YOU 91st DISTRICT VOTERS!" Preston said on Facebook. "I’m honored to be nominated by Republican primary voters as candidate for State Representative in the 91st District. I look forward to continuing this great campaign as we move forward to the General Election in November. I sincerely appreciate everyone who helped - whether by voting, walking, stuffing envelopes, or putting out signs. We made this happen together! I will not take your support for granted and will fight hard in Springfield for a better Illinois."

According to Ballotpedia, Preston defeated primary challenger James Fisher with 62.6% of the vote. In November, he will face Democrat Sharon Chung, who defeated Democratic primary challenger Karla Bailey-Smith with 63.3% of the vote.

"As a lifelong Illinois resident and entrepreneur, he's tired of the politicians in Springfield letting families and businesses down," his campaign website stated. Scott said he decided to run for state representative to bridge the partisan divide by uniting communities throughout the 91st district toward a common goal: improving our state. 

Preston campaigned on supporting law enforcement, rebuilding the state economy, and education.

“I’m grateful to the people of Normal to serve in City Hall for the last 8 plus years," Preston told Central Illinois Proud. "I think there are a lot of things that happened at the municipal level where you just have to work with people and solve real problems that our families are facing."

Preston served on the Normal town council for eight years. He believes that in order to solve problems, the government needs to get out of the way. He said too many people are leaving Illinois for better opportunities elsewhere and would want to work on measures that would keep Illinoisans from leaving the state. 

Preston says that the rising cost of living is the biggest issue facing people in his district, and he will oppose wasteful spending and tax increases to fight it. Preston says to accomplish anything in Springfield, Republicans need to end the Democrats’ supermajority, according to WGLT. Finally, Preston says that schools need to make decisions on what is best for their students and that they need to keep politics out of the classroom.

The newly drawn district encompasses parts of McLean County, Woodford County, Tazewell County, and Peoria County, according to The Pantagraph.