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Illinois election preview, 2024
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Last updated: Sept. 27, 2024
Thousands of general elections are taking place across the United States on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices at the federal, state, and local levels. This is one of 50 pages in which Ballotpedia previews the elections happening in each state as part of the Daily Brew’s 50 states in 25 days series.
This page provides an overview of all elections happening in Illinois within our coverage scope on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include office for 17 U.S. Representatives, 118 state Representatives, 20 state Senators, two state Supreme Court Justices, and 14 Intermediate Appellate Court Justices. Additionally, there are three statewide ballot measures on the ballot in Illinois. On this page, you will also find information regarding:
- How to vote in Illinois
- The elected offices that Illinois voters can expect to see on their ballots
- The races in Illinois that Ballotpedia is covering as battlegrounds
- The ballot measures that voters in Illinois will decide on
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
- The partisan balance of Illinois' congressional delegation and state government
- Past presidential election results in Illinois
- The competitiveness of legislative elections in Illinois
- The candidates who are on the ballot in Illinois
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Illinois
What's on the ballot?
2024 elections
- See also: Illinois elections, 2024
Illinois voters will elect 17 U.S. Representatives. There are no U.S. Senate seats or state executive offices up for election.
All 118 seats in the state House are up for election. Twenty of the 59 seats in the state Senate are up for a regularly scheduled election, and there will be a special election for an additional four Senate seats. There are five open seats in the state House and one open seat in the state Senate.
Two seats on the state supreme court and nine on the intermediate appellate court are up for election. Five intermediate appellate court seats are up for retention. Illinois is one of eight states that use partisan elections at the state supreme court level and one of nine states that use this selection method for at least one type of court below the supreme court level. No seats on the state supreme court are open. Two seats on the intermediate appellate court are open.
Ten seats on the Chicago Public Schools school board are up for election. The Chicago Public Schools is one of 475 school districts included in Ballotpedia's coverage of school board elections. This includes all school districts in the 100 largest cities by population and the 200 largest school districts by student enrollment.
Municipal elections will be held in Springfield, Illinois for state's attorney. Municipal elections will also be held in Cook County for state's attorney, county clerk, county commissioners (special), board of review commissioners, water reclamation district commissioners, clerk of the circuit court, circuit court judges, and subcircuit court judges. Springfield is one of 82 cities included in Ballotpedia's coverage of municipal elections. Cook County is one of 80 counties included in that coverage.
Below is a list of Illinois elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2024. Click the links to learn more about each type:
| Illinois elections, 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Elections? | More information |
| U.S. Senate | — | — |
| U.S. House | ✓ | Click here |
| Congress special election | — | — |
| Governor | — | — |
| Other state executive | — | — |
| State Senate | ✓ | Click here |
| State House | ✓ | Click here |
| Special state legislative | ✓ | Click here |
| State Supreme Court | ✓ | Click here |
| Intermediate appellate courts | ✓ | Click here |
| School boards | ✓ | Click here |
| Municipal government | ✓ | Click here |
| Recalls | — | — |
| Ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
| Local ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
Legend: ✓ election(s) / — no elections
Subject to Ballotpedia's scope
Your ballot
- See also: Sample Ballot Lookup
Noteworthy elections
As of Sept. 27, 2024, Ballotpedia has identified two elections as battleground races. Those are the races that we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive or compelling.
- Chicago Public Schools, Illinois, elections (2024): Ten seats on the Chicago Public Schools school board are up for general election on Nov. 5, 2024.
- Illinois' 17th Congressional District election, 2024: Incumbent Eric Sorensen (D) and Joseph G. McGraw (R) are running. In 2022, Sorensen's margin of victory was 4.0 percentage points. As of Sept. 27, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with one rating it Likely Democratic and three rating it Lean Democratic.
Ballot measures
- See also: Illinois 2024 ballot measures
There are three statewide ballot measures on the ballot in Illinois.
| Type | Title | Description | Result | Yes Votes | No Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assisted Reproductive Healthcare Advisory Question | Advise state officials on whether to provide for medically assisted reproductive treatments, including in vitro fertilization, to be covered by any health insurance plan in Illinois that provides full coverage to pregnancy benefits |
|
3,914,126 (73%) |
1,474,158 (27%) |
|
| Income Tax Advisory Question | Advise state officials on whether to amend the Illinois Constitution to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1 million for the purpose of dedicating funds to property tax relief |
|
3,288,462 (61%) |
2,121,507 (39%) |
|
| Penalties for Candidate Interference with Election Worker's Duties Advisory Question | Advise state officials on whether to establish civil penalties if a candidate interferes or attempts to interfere with an election worker's official duties |
|
4,813,971 (89%) |
595,677 (11%) |
Eleven ballot measures were on the ballot in Illinois from 2008 to 2022. Voters approved eight measures and defeated three.
State analysis
Partisan balance
Democrats represent 14 districts and Republicans represent three districts in Illinois' U.S. House delegation. In the U.S. House, Republicans have a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.
Both of Illinois' U.S. Senators—Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin—are Democrats. Democrats have a majority in the U.S. Senate. There are 47 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and four independents. Three independents caucus with the Democratic Party, and one other counts towards the Democratic majority for committee purposes.
Democrats have a 40-19 majority in the state Senate and a 78-40 majority in the state House. Democrats have had a majority in the state Senate since 2002 and a majority in the state House since 1996.
Because the governor is a Democrat, Illinois is one of 17 states with a Democratic trifecta. It has held this status since 2019, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) assumed office. Illinois' attorney general and secretary of state are also Democrats. This makes Illinois one of 20 states with a Democratic triplex, which it also has held since Pritzker assumed office.
Past presidential election results in Illinois
- See also: Presidential election in Illinois, 2024
How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
| County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
| Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
| Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
| New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
| Republican | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
| Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
| Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
| New Republican | D | D | R | ||||
Following the 2020 presidential election, 73.1% of Illinoisans lived in one of the state's 12 Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 22.4% lived in one of 77 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Illinois was Solid Democratic, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016, and Joe Biden (D) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Illinois following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
| Illinois county-level statistics, 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Democratic | 12 | 73.1% | |||||
| Solid Republican | 77 | 22.4% | |||||
| New Democratic | 2 | 2.4% | |||||
| Trending Republican | 11 | 2.2% | |||||
| Total voted Democratic | 14 | 75.4% | |||||
| Total voted Republican | 88 | 24.6% | |||||
State legislative competitiveness
According to Ballotpedia's annual state legislative competitiveness report, Illinois had a Competitiveness Index of 24.1, ranking it 36th of the 44 states that held elections.
- Six of the 138 seats up for election were open (4%)
- 21 of the 132 incumbents who ran for re-election faced contested primaries (16%)
- 72 of the 138 seats up for election were contested by both major parties (52%)
2010-2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Illinois, 2010-2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | Rank | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 8.6% | 16.5% | 57.6% | 27.6 | 31 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 19.2% | 22.8% | 42.9% | 28.3 | 35 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 8.8% | 11.2% | 38.7% | 19.6 | 40 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | 8.9% | 11.8% | 37.3% | 19.3 | 39 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 17.8% | 13.2% | 49.0% | 26.7 | 36 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 10.9% | 18.0% | 46.4% | 25.1 | 39 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 12.4% | 16.1% | 58.8% | 29.1 | 34 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 4.3% | 15.9% | 52.2% | 24.1 | 36 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
In 2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents. Click on headings for more state-specific information.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Illinois, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | ||||||||||||||||||||
| House | 4.2% | 16.8% | 51.7% | 24.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senate | 5.0% | 10.5% | 55.0% | 23.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 4.3% | 15.9% | 52.2% | 24.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
List of candidates
See also
Footnotes
