Senate Democrats won a 40 seats in Tuesday's election up from 35. The party would have 71 votes in the House if election results hold. (WJBC file photo) 

By Stephanie Pawlowski

BLOOMINGTON - Democrats in Illinois could claim veto-proof majorities in both houses of the General Assembly with gains made in Tuesday's election.

Senate Democrats picked up five state senate seats and seven house seats. Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said things did go badly, but said the party is putting an action plan together and is now putting its attention on the gubernatorial race in 2014. He said that's where the fight is going to be.

"The battle lines are kinda drawn and we need to focus on that race and we need to get some kind of census on who we're going to nominate and get behind them early," Brady said.

He said the party won't hand-pick a candidate, but he doesn't want to see a primary like the one of two years ago where seven candidates ran.

"We need to focus all our resources for the next two years, not just eight or nine months, on figuring out who we're going to put up, getting the resources behind them, getting our infrastructure behind them so they can win," Brady said.

Republicans picked up six House seats in the 2010 midterm election but lost all that momentum Tuesday.

Democrats control both houses of the General Assembly, the governor's office, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general's office. Republicans control the treasurer and comptroller's offices.

Veteran Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie said Democrats can't do what they please simply because they can adopt legislation without fear of a governor's veto. Lang is sponsor of a gambling expansion bill Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed, but Lang plans to proceed with an override vote in the current session.

Listen to Brady's interview with WJBC's Beth Whisman on the WJBC.com Podcasts page.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Stephanie Pawlowski can be reached at Stephanie.Pawlowski@Cumulus.com.