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Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 19 Republican primary)

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Illinois' 8th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: December 4, 2023
Primary: March 19, 2024
General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Illinois
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
DDHQ and The Hill: Safe Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
Illinois' 8th Congressional District
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Illinois elections, 2024
U.S. Congress elections, 2024
U.S. Senate elections, 2024
U.S. House elections, 2024

A Republican Party primary took place on March 19, 2024, in Illinois' 8th Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate would run in the district's general election on November 5, 2024.

Mark Rice advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8.

All 435 seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 56.9%-43.1%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 56.8%-41.4%.[2]

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
December 4, 2023
March 19, 2024
November 5, 2024


A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Illinois uses an open primary system. Voters do not have to register with a party, but they do have to choose, publicly, which party's ballot they will vote on at the primary election.[3][4]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Illinois' 8th Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8

Mark Rice advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 19, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Mark Rice
Mark Rice Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
24,362

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 24,362
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Mark Rice

Image of Mark Rice

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "Mark Rice was born and raised in Texas and have made his home in Illinois the last 35 years, where he raised four kids with his wife Ellen. We built a successful business in Chicago, Illinois, but I am ready to walk away from it, leaving the responsibility of the business to my adult kids, who are the next generation of young leaders creating jobs and opportunities. I intend to focus my time and years ahead to serving our country, and I believe my background in business, and dealing with the economy, is uniquely required during this time in our history as many around me voice concerns of the economic peril we are now facing caused by many bad policies pushed by bad politicians and frankly, corrupt actors who sold out our country to lobbyists and special interests. Mark attended the University of Texas in Austin and has served on different boards in Illinois, including the Jewish Community Center of Chicago, Camp Apache and Project Interchange. He is the passionate founder of Trevian Youth Football in the North Shore, Trevian Small Fry Basketball, where he promotes leadership, sportsmanship, winning attitude, and cultivates a mindset of working hard to achieve goals with the youth involved in his organization. He has so many special memories coach youth, whom today he remains in contact as adults. Mark is the Founder and CEO of Energy CX in Chicago, Illinois."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

I am a political outsider who will focus on being present in the 8th District by hosting regular Town Hall forums and be very Illinois-centric in order to restore the voices of constituents in the newly gerrymandered 8th Congressional District.

My focus will be on reviving the middle class by tackling loudly-voiced struggles, including the tax and spend policies that continue to take money out of their pockets that they need now more than ever to provide for their families and save for retirement. Many folks we have talked with are not making more money in their paychecks since the Biden Administration took over and they have seen another tax, called government created inflation, take a big portion of their paychecks for energy costs, grocery bills and daily living expenses. While the middle class continues to erode here in Illinois, Democrats talk of even more taxes on the horizon in this state and on a federal level and citizens need an advocate for their retirement future.

As a business owner and job creator in Cook County, I am very concerned that the exodus out of Illinois, including by Citadel, Boeing, Rabine Industries, Tyson Foods, Caterpillar, etc,. have hurt many and will hurt more in lost tax revenues. People see those corporations leave and feel compelled now to follow suit. I want Illinois to have good paying jobs, but it's very hard now to convince corporations to locate and stay in Illinois, where crime is up, there is a lot of government corruption (Democrat Speaker Madigan is facing several indictments and will be on trial in Illinois for RICO and Racketeering in Spring 2024), so taxes, less good paying jobs, and corruption have pushed many residents to the brink and want to leave the state.

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Illinois District 8 in 2024.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Illinois

Election information in Illinois: March 19, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: March 19, 2024
  • By mail: Postmarked by Feb. 20, 2024
  • Online: March 3, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: March 18, 2024
  • By mail: Received by March 14, 2024
  • Online: March 14, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: March 19, 2024
  • By mail: Postmarked by March 19, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Feb. 8, 2024 to March 18, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (CST)


Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Mark Rice Republican Party $281,464 $179,850 $101,614 As of December 31, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_il_congressional_district_08.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Illinois.

Illinois U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Year Districts/
offices 		Seats Open seats Candidates Possible primaries Contested Democratic primaries Contested Republican primaries % of contested primaries Incumbents in contested primaries % of incumbents in contested primaries
2024 17 17 0 46 34 5 6 32.4% 5 29.4%
2022 17 17 4 95 34 8 11 55.9% 7 46.7%
2020 18 18 1 73 36 13 8 58.3% 10 58.8%
2018 18 18 1 79 36 12 8 55.6% 7 41.2%
2016 18 18 1 49 36 8 6 38.9% 7 41.2%
2014 18 18 0 50 36 4 5 25.0% 3 16.7%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Illinois in 2024. Information below was calculated on 2/16/2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time. </noinclude>

Forty-nine candidates filed to run for Illinois' 17 U.S. House districts, including 24 Democrats and 25 Republicans. That's 2.59 candidates per district. In 2022, the first election after the number of Congressional districts in Illinois decreased from 18 to 17, 5.59 candidates filed per district.

In 2020, when the state still had 18 Congressional districts, 4.1 candidates ran. In 2018, 4.4 candidates did.

The number of total candidates who ran for the U.S. House in 2024 was the fewest since at least 2014.

All incumbents ran for re-election this year, meaning no seats were open for the first time since 2014. In 2022, four seats were open, and one seat was open in 2020, 2028, and 2016.

Six candidates—five Democrats and one Republican—ran in the 7th district, including incumbent Danny K. Davis (D). That was the most candidates who ran for a single district in 2024.

Eleven primaries were contested in 2024—five Democratic and six Republican. That was the fewest contested primaries since 2014, when nine were.

Five incumbents faced primary challengers—four Democrats and one Republican. That was also the fewest since 2014, when three incumbents faced primary challengers.

The 4th District was guaranteed to Democrats because no Republican candidates filed. The 15th and Illinois' 16th Congressional District were guaranteed to Republicans because no Democrats filed.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+6. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 6 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Illinois' 8th the 159th most Democratic district nationally.[5]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Illinois' 8th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
56.8% 41.4%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[6] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline Democratic Party Republican Baseline Republican Party Difference
54.8 42.1 D+12.7

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Illinois, 2020

Illinois presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 16 Democratic wins
  • 15 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party R R R D R R R R D D D D D R R D D R R R R R R D D D D D D D D
See also: Party control of Illinois state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Illinois' congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Illinois
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 14 16
Republican 0 3 3
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 17 19

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Illinois' top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Illinois, May 2024
Office Officeholder
Governor Democratic Party J.B. Pritzker
Lieutenant Governor Democratic Party Juliana Stratton
Secretary of State Democratic Party Alexi Giannoulias
Attorney General Democratic Party Kwame Raoul

State legislature

Illinois State Senate

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 40
     Republican Party 19
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 59

Illinois House of Representatives

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 78
     Republican Party 40
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 118

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Illinois Party Control: 1992-2024
Eighteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  Two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

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 21 22 23 24
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 D D 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 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 D D D D

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Illinois in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Illinois, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Illinois U.S. House Democratic 685[7] N/A 12/4/2023 Source
Illinois U.S. House Republican 536[8] N/A 12/4/2023 Source
Illinois U.S. House Unaffiliated 12,188[9] N/A 6/24/2024 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
  2. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
  3. ↑ Illinois General Assembly, "Illinois Compiled Statutes 10 ILCS 5/7-41," accessed August 12, 2024
  4. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," accessed August 12, 2024
  5. ↑ Cook Political Report, "The 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)," accessed January 10, 2024
  6. ↑ Inside Elections, "Methodology: Inside Elections’ Baseline by Congressional District," December 8, 2023
  7. ↑ Average of all congressional districts.
  8. ↑ Average of all congressional districts.
  9. ↑ Average of all congressional districts.


Illinois' current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Tammy Duckworth (D)
Dick Durbin (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
Mike Bost (R)
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
Democratic Party (16)
Republican Party (3)


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