59TH SENATE DISTRICT Incumbent Fowler defeats challenger Webb to keep seat

State Sen. Dale Fowler won re-election last week and said he'll use the next four years toward improving the economic condition of southern Illinois.

"I can't thank everyone enough for all the support and my campaign team that abided by my wishes of running a positive, clean, ethical campaign," Fowler said after election results were in. "That's what I pledged to do in '16 and I made the same pledge in '18 and we did it even though some people said 'Dale, they're attacking you. You need to attack back.' I can't do that. I guess it would be great if this kind of campaign could set a precedent for future campaigns. I'm as proud of that as I am anything."

Fowler won over Democratic opponent Steve Webb with 48,216 votes to Webb's 30,118 with all 299 precincts in the 59th Senate District reporting.

Webb, superintendent of the Goreville School System, said he knew the campaign would be difficult.

"It's been a great race, a great time, but it's a tough uphill climb to beat an incumbent," Webb said.

Fowler, who won a two-year term for his first term in the Senate, said now he has a little more time to work to improve southern Illinois without worrying about campaigning for the next election.

"Now that I have this four-year term, I can do nothing except focus on business and constituent services," he said.

"Now I can work on these projects for economic development and supporting our schools and teachers and all of those things that comes with it."<object id="Extra Pictures" type="x-im/image" uuid="6FAF07B5-B116-4C5E-B576-5502E8D202E2"><links><link rel="self" type="x-im/image" uri="im://image/6FAF07B5-B116-4C5E-B576-5502E8D202E2.jpg" uuid="6FAF07B5-B116-4C5E-B576-5502E8D202E2"><data><title><![CDATA[