North Barrington native Maria Peterson will again face incumbent Marty McLaughlin in November for the 52nd House seat after soundly defeating her Democratic primary opponent, Erica Chan Ding.

Unofficial results give Peterson 64.7% of 11,423 votes cast, a more than 3,300-vote margin over Chan Ding of South Barrington.

The 52nd House race will be one of three closely watched and highly contested races in Lake and McHenry counties this November. Along with the race between Democratic State Rep. Nabeela Syed and appointed Republican Darby Hills in the 26th State Senate race, there is the 51st House race between newcomers Jenny Levin, a Democrat, and Lori Smith, a Republican.

Ding, who is a member of the Barrington Area Unit District 220 School Board, committed a couple of unforced errors during her campaign. Her campaign sent out a mailer featuring an altered image of Peterson, placing her head on another person’s body, with the phrase, “When Maria Peterson runs, MAGA wins.”

The ad also listed Peterson’s past election losses to McConchie and McLaughlin. Peterson called the mailers “Chicago-style politics” that didn’t resonate in Lake County.

The Barrington Area Democratic Organization, which supports Peterson, condemned the attack mailers, saying in a press release, “These tactics do not reflect the values of our organization or the spirit of Democratic leadership in our community.”

Chan Ding argued that it was Peterson who was the first to disseminate an attack ad,in January, and claimed the ad “went after my character.”

A School Board investigation found that Chan Ding had violated district policies by using school resources, property and social media in the process of circulating petitions for her House candidacy. Peterson said the mailer simply mentioned the conclusions of the School District’s investigation, and that “There was no personal attack on” Chan Ding.

Peterson, a former U.S. Labor Department attorney, made a name for herself in the district and earned the respect of Democratic leadership in 2022 when she came within 358 votes of unseating GOP incumbent 26th District State Senator and Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, despite little party support.

Two years later, Peterson challenged McLaughlin for his House seat, and came even closer, losing by just 47 votes out of nearly 60,000 cast. Peterson’s campaign against McLaughlin saw her raise north of $2 million overall, the vast majority from Democratic leadership, which spent heavily on mailers and advertising.

McLaughlin’s position in the 52nd District has widely been considered vulnerable since redistricting took effect in 2022. That has been exacerbated by demographic shifts the past few years. But he managed to hold off Peterson and the flood of Democratic funding, despite meager support from the GOP.

McLaughlin, who had no primary opponent, started the year with $78,226 on hand, and has raised just $1,000 in large donations since. Peterson started the year with $103,530. She’s since raised $20,300 in large donations. First quarter financial reports will be released by the Illinois State Board of Elections on April 16.

The district went for Kamela Harris in 2024 by 6 percent and voted for all five statewide Democrats in 2022. Even prior to redistricting, it voted for Joe Biden for president by a 6.2 percent margin in 2020.

The 52nd District covers parts of four counties including Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry, and includes all or parts Algonquin, Barrington, Barrington Hills, Carpentersville, Cary, Crystal Lake, East Dundee, Fox River Grove, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Island Lake, Lake Barrington, Lake in the Hills, North Barrington, Oakwood Hills, Port Barrington, Prairie Grove, South Barrington, Tower Lakes, Trout Valley, and Wauconda.