Illinois, Secretary of State

Illinois held an election for secretary of state on November 6, 2018. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to participate in the Democratic or Republican primary elections was December 4, 2017, while independent and third party candidates had until June 25, 2018, to file.

SETTING THE STAGE
Heading into the election, the sitting secretary of state was Jesse White (D), who was first elected in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. White announced on August 17, 2017, that he would seek election to a sixth term in 2018.
At the time of the 2018 election, Illinois was under divided government. It first gained this status when Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) took office in 2015. Illinois was under divided triplex control in 2018.
Illinois had been won by the Democratic candidate in each of the five presidential elections leading up to the 2018 election. The widest margin of victory was Barack Obama's 25 percent margin in 2008 while the narrowest was John Kerry's ten percent margin in 2004.

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Illinois from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Illinois every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Illinois 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Hillary Clinton	55.8%	Donald Trump	38.8%	17.0%
2012	Barack Obama	57.6%	Mitt Romney	40.7%	16.9%
2008	Barack Obama	61.9%	John McCain	36.8%	25.1%
2004	John Kerry	54.8%	George W. Bush	44.5%	10.3%
2000	Al Gore	54.6%	George W. Bush	42.6%	12.0%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Illinois from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Illinois 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Tammy Duckworth	54.9%	Mark Kirk	39.8%	15.1%
2014	Dick Durbin	53.5%	Jim Oberweis	42.7%	10.8%
2010	Mark Kirk	48.0%	Alexander Giannoulias	46.4%	1.6%
2008	Dick Durbin	67.8%	Steve Sauerberg	28.5%	39.3%
2004	Barack Obama	70.0%	Alan Keyes	27.0%	43.0%
2002	Dick Durbin	60.3%	Jim Durkin	38.0%	22.3%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Illinois.

Election results (Governor), Illinois 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Bruce Rauner	50.3%	Pat Quinn	46.3%	4.0%
2010	Pat Quinn	46.8%	Bill Brady	45.9%	0.9%
2006	Rod Blagojevich	49.8%	Judy Baar Topinka	39.3%	10.5%
2002	Rod Blagojevich	52.2%	Jim Ryan	45.1%	7.1%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Illinois in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Illinois 2000-2016

Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	7	38.9%	11	61.1%	D+4
2014	8	44.4%	10	55.6%	D+2
2012	6	33.3%	12	66.7%	D+6
2010	11	57.9%	8	42.1%	R+3
2008	7	36.8%	12	63.2%	D+5
2006	9	47.4%	10	52.6%	D+1
2004	9	47.4%	10	52.6%	D+1
2002	10	52.6%	9	47.4%	R+1
2000	10	50.0%	10	50.0%	Even

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Illinois Party Control: 1992-2020
Fourteen years of Democratic trifectas • Two years of Republican trifectas

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D
Senate	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
House	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Demographics

Demographic data for Illinois

	Illinois	U.S.
Total population:	12,839,047	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	55,519	3,531,905
Gender
Female:	50.9%	50.8%
Race and ethnicity**
White:	72.3%	73.6%
Black/African American:	14.3%	12.6%
Asian:	5%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	16.5%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	87.9%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	32.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$57,574	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	16.8%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Illinois.

As of July 2016, Illinois' three largest cities were Chicago (pop. est. 2.7 million), Aurora (pop. est. 200,000), and Joliet (pop. est. 150,000).