CHICAGO — It has been more than a month since the primary-election polls closed, but Illinois Republicans finally have a candidate in the governor’s race.

The state Board of Elections on Friday certified Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady as the winner in one of the closest elections in Illinois primary history. He edged out Hinsdale Sen. Kirk Dillard by 193 votes of the slightly more than 767,000 ballots cast.

Dillard had said he would not seek a recount unless he trailed by less than 100 votes. He stayed true to that pledge on Friday.

“I didn’t want to delay Sen. Brady’s campaign,” he said. “A recount would be divisive to the Republican Party and I did not want to put my party through that.”

The 193-vote margin translates into 0.025 percent of the total Republican ballots cast in the Feb. 2 primary election.

Brady dove right into campaigning for the general election, making the economy his No. 1 priority.

“The people of Illinois are starving for a candidate who will focus on jobs, who’ll focus on the economy, who will make government work for the people,” he said. “I will bring a new form of leadership — a form of leadership that will balance our budget, foster and encourage private sector business investment and move Illinois to the forefront of this nation’s economy.”

In conceding, Dillard offered the downstate senator some advice for closing the early polling gap he faces against Gov. Pat Quinn.

“(Brady) knows how to run a race, he just needs to get better known up here in metropolitan Chicago,” Dillard said. “My advice to him is to stick to two themes: balancing the state budget and job creation because he’s head-and-shoulders above Pat Quinn and the Democrats on that issue.

Brady has already stumbled in the opening days of his campaign by straying from that message. This week he accused the governor of letting a man now charged with murder out of prison under the Department of Corrections heavily criticized early-release program — a claim the department later proved false. 

Quinn wasted no time in branding Brady as out of touch.

“The Republican nominee is from the extreme right wing of the party and far from the mainstream of Illinois voters,” Quinn said in a statement. “(His) extreme positions reflect Mr. Brady’s misguided priorities, especially at a time when we need to rebuild our economy and prepare our workers for the jobs of the future.”

Quinn and Brady will have 8 months to campaign before voters take to the polls on Nov. 2.