Durbin sails to reelection in 5-way race for U.S. Senate

The Illinois polls were closed for only three minutes Tuesday night when the U.S. Senate race was called for Dick Durbin.

As of 10:45 p.m., with 82.38% of precincts reporting, Durbin was leading with 52.18% of the unofficial vote count, or 2.32 million votes.

The Republican challenger, Mark Curran, had 40.88%. Independent Willie Wilson had 4.11%. Libertarian Danny Malouf and Green Party candidate David Black shared the last 2.83% of the vote.

Durbin, 75, is the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat. He was first elected in 1996 and has been Democratic whip since 2005. Tuesday night's victory reelected him to a fifth term.