The primaries and general elections coincided with those for federal congressional races and those for other state offices. The election was part of the 2018 Illinois elections.
Turnout
For the primary election, turnout was 25.76%, with 2,046,710 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 56.15%, with 4,547,657 votes cast.
The Illinois LGBTQ Forum: The Democratic Candidates for Governor was held on December 6, 2017, and organized by Affinity Community Services, the Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action, the Equality Illinois Institute, and Pride Action Tank. Candidates who attended included Daniel Biss, Tio Hardiman, Ameya Pawar, J. B. Pritzker, and Chris Kennedy. Whitney Young High School hosted the first student-run gubernatorial debate in the United States on October 4, 2017. All 7 then current candidates attended, meaning Daniel Biss, Bob Daiber, Tio Hardiman, Chris Kennedy, Alex Paterakis, Ameya Pawar, and J. B. Pritzker. The Illinois chapter of progressive advocacy organization Our Revolution sponsored a forum at the Chicago Teacher's Union headquarters on October 8, 2017. Candidates voiced similar opinions on single-payer health care, gun control, and the minimum wage, but differed on a hypothetical state deal with Amazon and relationships with powerful Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan. The Democratic candidates held their first televised debate on January 23. All six candidates met again a week later on January 30. The debate was not televised but was uploaded to WSIL-TV'sYouTube channel. Another debate was held on February 21, which was hosted by the University of Springfield. Chris Kennedy did not attend due to a back injury, although all five other candidates participated. Another major debate took place on March 1. It involved issues such as gun control, Blagojevich's tapes, sexual harassment, and relatability. Another debate took place the next day in Springfield. The topics involved Madigan, sexual harassment, among other issues. The spotlight remained on the top contenders: Chris Kennedy, J.B Pritzker, and Daniel Biss. Pritzker was criticized for refusing to commit to attend the only live-television debate planned outside the Chicago media market, prompting the debate's cancellation. Biss and Kennedy gathered petition signatures to encourage the debate's continuation, and Biss commented that "JB is borrowing a page from the billionaire playbook, avoiding debates and shunning reporters who ask tough questions." Another debate took place on March 14, revolving around topics including Pritzker's newly reported offshore holdings, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, and education. Kennedy and Biss both attacked Pritzker on the offshore businesses, Kennedy "saying it's like a job interview, and Pritzker lying to get the job", and Biss saying "Pritzker did that to avoid taxes".
Polling
Hypothetical polling
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Results
Pritzker won 98 of Illinois' counties. Kennedy won two, and Biss also won two.
* Former running mate: Ray Tranchant, immigration activist
Endorsements
Debates
and Ives held their first and only scheduled forum on January 29. Rauner largely ignored his opponent and focused on attacking Speaker Mike Madigan, comparing him to his likely Democratic challenger, J. B. Pritzker. Ives, on the other hand, attacked Rauner for being an ineffective governor and alienating social conservatives. Rauner and Ives were invited by the University of Springfield to debate a second time, although Rauner declined the invitation.
Polling
Hypothetical polling
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Results
Despite a 14% decrease in Republican primary votes cast, Rauner increased his overall vote total by 9% compared to the 2014 primary. In 2018, he managed to capture a narrow majority of the votes, with 51.4%, in his victory over conservative Ives. Rauner only received 40.2% of the primary vote in 2014, in his narrow win victory over Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady, and Dan Rutherford. Rauner did well in central Illinois compared to the Republican primary four years earlier, when he managed 30% in the downstate region and finished 2nd to Kirk Dillard. In 2018, he carried the region with 52%. However, the result was still considered surprisingly close, and indicated widespread dissatisfaction with Rauner's governorship among more conservative Republicans.
Third parties and independents
In order to qualify as an established party in Illinois, a candidate for said party must earn at least 5% of the vote in a statewide election. This last occurred in 2006, when Rich Whitney won 10% of the vote, allowing the Illinois Green Party to achieve such status. Established party status comes with benefits. For example, candidates of an established party needs only 5,000 voter signatures on its petitions to gain ballot access. For non-established parties this number is approximately 25,000. For the 2018 election, non-established parties do not need to run a full slate in order to qualify for ballot access.
Conservative
, a longtime intraparty opponent of Bruce Rauner, resigned from the Republican Caucus to run for governor as a member of the newly created Conservative Party.
Matthew C. Scaro, entrepreneur and Libertarian activist
Jon Stewart, retired professional wrestler, Republican candidate for the state house in 1998 and Republican candidate for IL-05 in 2009
Independents
Removed from ballot
Mary Vann-Metcalf
Gregg Moore
*Magistrale Morgan
Dock Walls, perennial candidate
*Jim Tobin, founder of Taxpayers United of America
Withdrew
William J. Kelly, radio host and perennial candidate
* Running mate: Brian Leggero, candidate for Mayor of Rockford in 2017
Constitution
Nominee
William J. Kelly was nominated for governor and Chad Koppie, a member of the Kane County Regional Board of School Trustees, were chosen to run as the gubernatorial ticket of the Illinois Constitution Party. However, on June 5, 2018, Kelly dropped out and endorsed the third party campaign of Sam McCann.
Withdrew
William J. Kelly, radio host and perennial candidate
The Green Party ran a slate of statewide candidates in 2006 and 2010, but failed to be placed on the ballot in 2014 and declined to run any statewide candidates in 2018.
General election
had been rated as one of the, if not the most, vulnerable governors running for re-election in 2018 by Politico and the National Journal. Following his surprisingly narrow primary win, Rauner offered former state senator Karen McConnaughay, attorney general nomineeErika Harold, Chicago Cubs co-owner and Republican National Committee Finance Chair Todd Ricketts and Illinois Republican Party Committeeman Richard Porter the chance to replace him on the ticket, with the promise that he would continue to fully fund the campaign using his personal wealth. Rauner consistently trailed in the polls by large margins, and the race was rated as a likely Democratic win by the majority of election prognosticators. Ultimately, Rauner remained on the ballot, and lost in the most lopsided gubernatorial election since Jim Edgar was reelected in 1994.
Endorsements
Debates
Predictions
;Notes
Fundraising
Polling
Hypothetical polling
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;with Jeanne Ives and J. B. Pritzker
Results
Pritzker only won 16 out of Illinois’ 102 counties. However, those counties account for more than half of the state's total population. In the end, the election was not close with the Pritzker/Stratton ticket defeating the Rauner/Sanguinetti ticket by almost 16 percentage points. Pritzker won the traditionally Democratic Cook County which includes the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Pritzker also won in all but one of Chicago’s collar counties, which used to be more of a tossup in years prior. Pritzker also did well in other cities such as East Saint Louis and Champaign, and narrowly winning in Peoria. Rauner did well in most rural areas of the state, but it was not enough to put a dent into Pritzker’s lead. Pritzker and Stratton were sworn in on January 14, 2019. Rauner's 38.8% of the vote was the worst performance for an incumbent Illinois Governor since 1912.
