1996Final results
1996 election for Illinois Legislative District 42
Illinois State Senate · Illinois
Edward Petka (R) won with 59.2% of the vote, defeating Ed Kelly (D) by 18.4 points.
Edward PetkaRepublican · winner · incumbent
59.2%44,843
Ed KellyDemocrat
40.8%30,913
75,756 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1996
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET