Balich, Fricilone retain seats for Will County Board District 7

Thomas Czaja, Editor 22nd Media
10:45 pm CST November 8, 2016

Republican incumbent Will County Board Members Steve Balich and Mike Fricilone reclaimed their seats by a comfortable margin on Election Night, defeating 21-year-old Democrat challenger Kyle Killacky.

With all 24 precincts reporting, Balich secured a total of 12,902 votes, good for 39.78 percent of the vote, while Fricilone had 10,760 votes, or 33.18 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Will County Clerk’s Office. The duo beat out Killacky, who had 8,772 votes or 27.05 percent.

A total of 32,434 residents cast their votes.

Balich said he and Fricilone will look to continue their fight against excessive taxation and regulations in their second terms.

“I’m happy as hell,” Balich said of the election result. “Personally, I’m looking to do whatever I can to make life better for all the people that live here, cutting regulations, not raising taxes and doing things that will make people have a better life.”

Balich added that with a Republican caucus the past two years they have achieved capital projects without raising taxes for residents. He said speaking with locals on the campaign trail showed him the large issues that still remain.

“The overwhelming majority of people I talked to said the same thing, that they cannot afford living here because taxes are so high,” Balich said.

To combat that, Balich said he wants to fight the taxes and regulations and has “no problem standing up and fighting for” issues that matter most to his constituents.

His fellow Republican, Fricilone, agreed with Balich’s sentiments and said he was elated with the win.

“It’s always humbling to have the constituents vote you in, especially the second time,” Fricilone said.

“The second time, they hopefully liked your ideas and how you performed.”

Fricilone said making government more efficient and lowering costs of services is integral, along with furthering the efforts on county-wide issues, like the heroin epidemic.

While he said he thinks he and Balich are on the right path, he said the pair are always open to hearing what the people want and need.

“If anyone has an idea or suggestion, that’s what we’re here for,” Fricilone said. “When constituents tell us what we need, we fight the fight as long as we can.”

All election results are considered unofficial until a canvassing of votes is completed, and absentee, provisional and grace period ballots are counted.