RIVER NORTH — Hillary Clinton won Illinois by a very tight margin Tuesday after picking up wins in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, despite a late surge by Bernie Sanders in her native state.
With nearly 99 percent of the Illinois vote counted, Clinton led Sanders by less than 2 percent, down significantly from initial returns after the polls closed.
Clinton's enormous lead in the polls over Sanders in Illinois quickly fizzled out by Monday, according to the latest CBS poll putting Sanders in striking distance.
Speaking in Ohio, Clinton said her victories in the swing states of Ohio and Florida put her on the path to securing the Democratic nomination.
Clinton started off the night by winning Florida, taking 65 percent of the vote, and North Carolina with 59 percent, based on unofficial results.
On the Republican ballot in the Illinois primary, business tycoon and reality-television star Donald Trump defeated Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by winning approximately 40 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.
Anxious Clinton supporters expressed cautious optimism as the votes trickled in Tuesday.
"We consider it her home state," said Denise Trahe, of Lincoln Park, as she waited with other Clinton backers at Old Crow Smokehouse in River North for votes to be counted.
Although Edgewater native Clinton — who grew up in Park Ridge near the city's Far Northwest Side — had expected to win her home state handily, she left nothing to chance, sending her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to campaign Tuesday on the South and West sides of the city.
Anxious Clinton supporters expressed cautious optimism she would hold off a surge from Sanders.
"I think she's the most qualified," Trahe said. "And I think it's important to put somebody in office who's not gonna turn the clock back 60 years."
Sanders, the senator from Vermont, rallied a standing-room-only crowd Monday at Roosevelt University's Auditorium Theater and sought to turn the campaign into a referendum on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's tenure in office, saying he did not want the mayor's endorsement.
On Tuesday, the mood was low at Sanders' party in the West Loop as Clinton racked up victories across the country, extending her lead in the all-important delegate count.
"I'm nervous," said 22-year-old Markel Brackett. "I really don't know how to feel if it turns south for Bernie."
Yet "hopeful" was how Carol Rolowicz, of Lincoln Park, described herself at the Clinton event.
"I liked what happened in Florida," she said. "I think she has Florida and North Carolina. But I'm worried about Illinois."
Both Trahe and Rolowicz had heard reports moderate Democrats were crossing over and voting Republican for Kasich in a bid to derail Trump. They said they believed Clinton was the more sensible option.
William Godwin, of South Shore,
Godwin said he has friends voting for Sanders, the independent U.S. senator from Vermont.
"I get it," he said. "He also removed himself from Rahm and Hillary didn't, and I think that might hurt us here." Yet he lauded Clinton's "incredible experience" and said that made her the best Democratic standard-bearer.
"We know where her heart is," Godwin said. "We know what a policy wonk she is."
But her ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel threatened to play to Sanders' strengths. She has been hamstrung by the support of Emanuel, who's been relegated to the sidelines even while backing her.
"I want to thank Mayor Rahm Emanuel for not endorsing me," Sanders pointedly said Monday. "I don't want his endorsement. I don't want the endorsement of a mayor who is shutting down school after school and firing teachers."
Local activists hired planes on Tuesday to fly above the city trailing banners reading, "Hillary stands with Rahm" and "Chicago stands with Laquan," a reference of course to the Laquan McDonald case.
The former U.S. senator, secretary of state and first lady had seen the race tighten considerably since she kicked off her Illinois campaign in Bronzeville a month ago. At the time, her campaign said it wasn't sure how often she'd be back, because it was thought the state was safely in her fold.
Last week's loss to Sanders in Michigan got Clinton's attention, and she returned to Chicago Monday with a rally at the Plumbers Union Hall in the West Loop, followed by a visit to a Nabisco plant on the Southwest Side where jobs are being transferred to Mexico.
Sanders too returned to Chicago with a late rally Monday night at the Auditorium Theater Downtown, but the Clinton campaign pulled out all the stops by bringing in President Bill Clinton as a closer to seal the deal as voters went to the polls Tuesday.
Hillary Clinton has drawn on the loyal support of African-American voters, as when she made a campaign stop at 117th Street and Michigan Avenue Monday with U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago), facing his own primary challenge from Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st).
And she tried to cement her support with Hispanics Monday with a stop in Pilsen.
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