The first thing Jeff Walter plans to do after presumptively securing the Republican nomination for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District is take some time off.

The village president of Elburn and his wife were planning a week’s vacation, he said on Tuesday night as returns rolled in and he had an early lead against three opponents in the GOP primary.

After the vacation – and assuming no changes once the vote totals are official – Walter’s next step will be to organize for the larger race. He hopes to unseat U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, who has served the 11th District since 2013.

Going from the mayor of a small Kane County community to Capitol Hill – and beating an experienced Congressman who has enjoyed an uncommon measure of bipartisan support in his district – will be a challenge Walter acknowledges.

For the primary race, Walter relied on “a lot of volunteers,” one paid staffer and one consultant. Now “we will need to look at a professional campaign manager … to beat Bill Foster,” Walter said.

In unofficial results with 96% of precincts counted, Walter was leading a four-way race with nearly 43% of the vote, prompting AP to declare him the winner.

He credits his time as Elburn’s mayor for the win.

Voters “understand what I can do and see what I have done” as mayor, Walter said. Neither did it hurt to have endorsements from the Daily Herald, Chicago Tribune and State Sen. Don DeWitte.

“That all helped as well,” Walter said.

The district includes parts of McHenry, Kane, DuPage, DeKalb, Will, Lake and Boone counties.