Corbett ahead in Champaign County commission primary

May 4—Champaign County Commissioner Bob Corbett narrowly leads the Republican primary for his seat, according to unofficial results from the Champaign County Board of Elections.

As of Tuesday night, Corbett had nearly 31% of the vote with 284 ballots cast in his favor, while challenger Marcia Bailey had 30%, Nino Vitale had 28%, and David Faulkner had nearly 10%, according to unofficial results.

Incumbent Corbett has been serving as a Champaign County Commissioner for more than 20 years. Prior to taking on his commission role, he worked at International Harvester for 40 years. His term is set to expire on Dec. 31.

Bailey has worked with numerous county agencies, including the Champaign County Auditor's Office, where he worked as a deputy auditor for years in real estate and bookkeeping. In addition, he worked with the county's welfare programming, now the county's department of job and family services, for nearly 30 years.

Vitale worked as the state representative for District 85 — which includes Champaign, Logan and Shelby counties — for eight years. Before that, he worked in the private-sector for 22 years, and now works at his family's manufacturing business, Johnson Welded Products Inc., based in Urbana.

Former county commissioner David Faulkner was first elected as a county commissioner in 2012 and was reelected in 2016. He lost the primary election in 2020 to current commissioner Tim Cassady.

No Democrats filed to run for commission. County Board of Elections offices have until July 15 to certify petitions from Independent candidates for the general election in November.