United States presidential election in Illinois, 2016



The 2020 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election. Illinois voters chose 20 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice-President.

Illinois was won by incumbent President William C. Rutherford (D-Texas), with 65.07% of the popular vote, against Senator Thomas P. Leach (R-Arizona), with 34.93% of the popular vote. Rutherford won by a resounding 30.14% margin, delivering the strongest performance ever for a Democratic presidential candidate in the state.

Background
For most of the second half of the 20th century, Illinois was a Republican-leaning swing state. It voted Republican in every election from 1952 to 1976, save for the elections of 1960 and 1964. Democratic President John Glenn carried the state in both 1980 and 1984, but in 1988, it returned to its Republican voting habits, and overwhelmingly supported President John McCain in both 1992 and 1996. However, Vice-President Jack Kemp just narrowly won the state in 2000 against Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, who won the national election that year. Illinois swung heavily to Gore and the Democrats upon his reelection in 2004; Gore carried it by 14.3% that year. In 2008, Illinois was narrowly held by Vice-President John Kerry against Republican nominee and national victor Mitt Romney, and in 2012, President Rutherford had carried it by 19 points against Romney.

The blue trend in the Land of Lincoln in presidential elections can be largely attributed to Cook County, home to Chicago, which makes up about 41.2% of the state's population. While Chicago has been a Democratic stronghold for decades, the suburban areas of Cook County have traditionally tilted Republican. The brand of Republicanism in the suburbs, however, has historically been a moderate one, and these areas swung Democratic as the national party moved more to the right. Democrats also do very well in the Illinois portions of the Quad Cities and the St. Louis areas. Additionally, the historically Republican collar counties near Chicago-DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Kane, and Will-have become friendlier to Democrats at the national level. With the exception of Will County, most of these suburban counties had remained loyal to Romney in 2012, but by the smallest margins for a Republican in decades.

In 2016, Illinois's Democratic trend was accelerated greatly by the nomination of staunchly conservative Senator Thomas P. Leach of Arizona. Leach's calls for the privatization of Social Security, for cuts to Medicare, and for the abolition of numerous government agencies, as well as his calls for an aggressive foreign policy, were viewed in an extremely negative fashion, not only in Illinois's rural counties and in Cook County, but also in the collar counties. President Rutherford, capitalizing on this, focused his attentions upon the state, aiming to court disaffected moderate suburban voters and to bring them into the Democratic fold. He established a strong lead in the general election polls, and by October, Illinois was being projected as "Solid Democratic" by the pundits.

Vote
President Rutherford won Illinois in a 30.14% sweep-out, carrying all 102 of the state's counties and exceeding expectations. This was the most decisive victory ever obtained by a Democratic presidential candidate in the state. Rutherford beat Leach in the state by 1,668,678 votes, the widest margin of victory for a presidential candidate from either party. Illinois weighed in as 4.94% more Democratic then the nation at large. The President swept all of the collar counties around Cook County, becoming the first Democrat to do so. DuPage and McHenry Counties supported the Democratic ticket for the first time since 1852, when they had been carried by Franklin Pierce. Lake, Will, and Kane Counties all supported Rutherford by double-digit margins, with Will County giving him more then 60% of the vote.

Rutherford also broke into numerous Republican rural strongholds, ending a number of county streaks. He became the first Democrat ever to win Carroll and Ogle Counties, the first to carry Boone County since James K. Polk in 1844, and the first to carry Lee County since 1852. The President maintained his strength in traditionally Democratic rural counties in Downstate Illinois, receiving more then 70% of the vote in fourteen of them. He also passed that milestone in Cook County, carrying it with 72 percent of the vote, the highest vote share ever received by a presidential candidate from either party there. This election solidified Illinois's status as a safely Democratic state at the presidential level.