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2020 United States Senate election in Illinois

The 2020 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Illinois, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, various state and local elections, and the Illinois Fair Tax. Incumbent Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who had been Senate Minority Whip since 2015, won election to a fifth and final term in office, defeating Republican nominee Mark Curran.

Durbin won with 54.9% of the vote. Key to Durbin's landslide victory was the heavily populated and very Democratic Cook County, home of Chicago, which he won by around 560,000 votes. Durbin also did well in the suburban counties, often called "collar counties", of Chicago, winning all of them except McHenry County. Durbin did well in Champaign County, home of the University of Illinois, and St. Clair County, where his birth home of East St. Louis is located. Nevertheless, Curran did well in most rural areas of the state, including winning rural Alexander County where a Republican had not won since 1972. Durbin became the first senator from Illinois to be elected five consecutive times since senators began being elected by popular vote in 1913.

Background

The primaries and general elections coincide with those for federal (president and House) and those for state offices.

For the primaries, turnout was 28.36%, with 2,279,439 votes cast.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Withdrawn

Declined

Endorsements

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

  • Casey Chlebek, businessman
  • Peggy Hubbard, U.S. Navy veteran and former police officer
  • Robert Marshall, physician and perennial candidate, Democratic primary candidate for governor of Illinois in 2018
  • Richard Mayers (as a write-in candidate), perennial candidate and alleged white supremacist;
  • Tom Tarter, cancer surgeon

Withdrew

  • Preston Nelson, Republican candidate for Illinois's 12th congressional district in 2018 (ran for IL-08 as a Libertarian)
  • Dean Seppelfrick
  • Connor Vlakancic, CEO of 5Star Inc. (switched to independent)

Declined

Endorsements

Results

Other candidates

A legal ruling, taking note of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois, allowed the Libertarian and Green parties to have their selected candidate on the ballot without the normal signature requirements, as they each ran a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016.

Constitution Party

Removed from ballot

  • Chad Koppie, perennial candidate and former member of the Kane County Regional Board of School Trustees

Green Party

Nominee

  • David F. Black, Green Party nominee for Illinois attorney general in 2010

Independent American Party

Withdrawn

  • Keith Richardson

Libertarian Party

Nominee

Willie Wilson Party

Declared

Independents

Declared

  • Kevin Keely, substitute teacher and community activist (as a write-in candidate)
  • Albert A. Schaal (as a write-in candidate)
  • Lowell Martin Seida, perennial candidate (as a write-in candidate)

Withdrawn

  • Patrick Feges
  • Julie Rushing
  • Connor Vlakancic, affiliated with the Republican Party (switched from Republican candidacy)

General election

Predictions

Additional general election endorsements

Polling

with Dick Durbin, generic Republican and Willie Wilson<br />

with Dick Durbin and Willie Wilson<br />

Results

Durbin also kept his landslide winning streak by winning with at least a ten-point margin. Durbin was sworn in on January 3, 2021, for his fifth term, which expires on January 3, 2027.

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Durbin won 12 of the 18 congressional districts, with the remaining six going to Curran, including one that elected a Democrat.

Notes

Partisan clients<br />

References

External links

Official campaign websites