Democratic Rep. Nikki Budzinski won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Illinois on Wednesday. The freshman congresswoman was once a former senior advisor to Gov. JB Pritzker and worked as a labor union activist. She defeated Republican Joshua Loyd. The narrow Democrat-leaning district cuts through central Illinois from the St. Louis area to Champaign. The Associated Press declared Budzinski the winner at 11:23 a.m. EST.