2016 United States presidential election in Illinois


The 2016 United States presidential election in Illinois was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential elections in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. State voters chose 20 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.
Illinois was won by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who garnered 55.83% of votes cast against Donald Trump's 38.76%, winning the state by a margin of 17.07%. Prior to the election, news organizations accurately predicted that the state would be carried by Clinton, who was born in Illinois. Clinton won by a slightly enlarged margin from Barack Obama's 2012 win in his home state; however, her overall percentage was not as large as Obama's in 2008 or 2012. Illinois was among the eleven states in which Hillary Clinton outperformed Barack Obama's margin in 2012.
Clinton's victory continued a Democratic winning streak in the state - with the Democratic candidate having carried Illinois through the past seven consecutive elections. The last Republican to win Illinois in a presidential election was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Election information

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for congress and Senate, as well as those for state offices.

Turnout

For the state-run primaries, turnout was 45.73%, with 3,505,795 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 68.95%, with 5,536,424 votes cast.

Primary elections

s for three parties were held in Illinois. From January 25 to February 17, 2016, the Green Party of the United States held primaries and caucuses, as part of the Green Party presidential primaries, to elect delegates representing a candidate at the 2016 Green National Convention. Physician and activist Jill Stein won a landslide of the popular vote, taking almost all of the state's 23 delegates. On March 15, 2016, both the Democratic and Republican parties held primaries in Illinois as part of a five-state contest being held on the day in both the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. In the Democratic primaries, 156 pledged delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention were elected and awarded to candidates proportionally, according to countywide and statewide vote. In the Republican primaries, 69 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention were elected and awarded to the first place candidate, according to statewide vote.

Democratic primary

Forum

March 14, 2016 – Columbus, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois:
The tenth forum was held at 6:00 pm EDT on March 14, 2016, at the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. It aired on MSNBC. The first section of the town hall with Bernie Sanders was moderated by Chuck Todd; the second section of the town hall with Hillary Clinton was moderated by Chris Matthews.

Results

Six candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:

Republican primary

Ten candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot:

Green primary

The Green Party of Illinois held the very first primary election for the Green Party of the United States, in their series of presidential primaries. Registered Green party voters could participate in the primary through an online ballot or at select caucus sites in the state on various dates. 23 delegates to the 2016 Green National Convention were up for election in this primary.
Five candidates stood for election, including a sixth "uncommitted" option for the ballot. The candidates included activist and Green nominee in the 2012 presidential election, Jill Stein, singer-songwriter Darryl Cherney, businesswoman Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry, perennial candidate Kent Mesplay, and professor William "Bill" Kreml. By the end of the primary, 134 votes were cast, with Stein winning a landslide 87% of the vote. 20 delegates from Illinois to the convention were allocated to Stein following the primary, with 1 being allocated to William Kreml and 2 being sent as uncommitted delegates.

General election

Analysis

Clinton's win in Illinois was largely the result of a lopsided victory in Cook County, the state's most populous county and home of Chicago, the city where Clinton was born and raised. Trump meanwhile won most of the downstate rural counties by large margins. Many of these counties had voted for Clinton's husband in both his 1992 and 1996 presidential runs. This is also the first presidential election in history where a Republican managed to win the White House nationally without carrying any of Chicago's collar counties aside from McHenry County, which is more Republican-leaning than the other four collar counties. Illinois, along with Minnesota, was one of the only two Midwestern states not won by Donald Trump. The election marked the first time since 1988 in which Illinois did not vote the same as neighboring Wisconsin.
Cook County, the collar counties and the downstate counties of Champaign and McLean were the only ones to swing towards Clinton. Knowing these statistics, if one were to subtract Cook County's total votes from the rest of Illinois, Trump would have won the state with 1,692,728 votes to Clinton's 1,478,783 votes. This is the first time the Republicans have won Alexander County since Richard Nixon's 1972 landslide. Peoria County matched the national popular vote this year, as it did in the 2012 election.
Had Clinton won the election, she would have become the second president born in Illinois after Ronald Reagan. But like Reagan, both politicians jump-started their political careers in elected office elsewhere. Reagan served as Governor of California while Clinton served as a United States Senator from New York.

Polling

Results

By congressional district

Clinton won eleven of eighteen congressional districts.
DistrictClintonTrumpRepresentative
75%22%Bobby Rush
79%19%Robin Kelly
55%39%Dan Lipinski
81%13%Luis Gutierrez
70%24%Mike Quigley
50%43%Peter Roskam
87%9%Danny K. Davis
58%36%Tammy Duckworth
58%36%Raja Krishnamoorthi
69%25%Jan Schakowsky
61%32%Robert Dold
61%32%Brad Schneider
58%35%Bill Foster
40%55%Mike Bost
44%50%Rodney Davis
45%48%Randy Hultgren
24%71%John Shimkus
38%55%Adam Kinzinger
47%47%Cheri Bustos
33%60%Darin LaHood

By county