2004Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
2004 election for Illinois Legislative District 38
Illinois State Senate · Illinois
Gary G. Dahl (R) won with 52.4% of the vote, defeating Patrick D. Welch (D) by 4.8 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Gary G. DahlRepublican · winner
52.4%51,829
Patrick D. WelchDemocrat · incumbent
47.6%47,062
98,891 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 2004
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET