The State Government of Illinois is modeled after the federal government with adaptations originating from traditions cultivated during the state's frontier era.[1] The capital city of Illinois is Springfield. Under the Constitution of 1970, there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is split into several statewide elected offices. Legislative functions are granted to the Illinois General Assembly, made of the 118-member Illinois House of Representatives and the 59-member Illinois Senate. The judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court of Illinois, Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Circuit Courts.
Departments [edit]
The government of Illinois has numerous departments, including:
Politics [edit]
Presidential elections results[citation needed]
| Year |
Republican |
Democratic |
| 2008[2] |
36.9% 1,981,158 |
61.8% 3,319,237 |
| 2004 |
44.48% 2,345,946 |
54.82% 2,891,550 |
| 2000 |
42.58% 2,019,421 |
54.60% 2,589,026 |
| 1996 |
36.81% 1,587,021 |
54.32% 2,341,744 |
| 1992 |
34.34% 1,734,096 |
48.58% 2,453,350 |
| 1988 |
50.69% 2,310,939 |
48.60% 2,215,940 |
| 1984 |
56.17% 2,707,103 |
43.30% 2,086,499 |
| 1980 |
49.65% 2,359,049 |
41.72% 1,981,413 |
| 1976 |
50.10% 2,364,269 |
48.13% 2,271,295 |
| 1972 |
59.03% 2,788,179 |
40.51% 1,913,472 |
| 1968 |
47.08% 2,174,774 |
44.15% 2,039,814 |
| 1964 |
40.53% 1,905,946 |
59.47% 2,796,833 |
| 1960 |
49.80% 2,368,988 |
49.98% 2,377,846 |
In the past, Illinois was a critical swing state leaning marginally towards to the Republican Party. This has changed and the state has supported Democratic presidential candidates since 1992. John Kerry easily won the state's 21 electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 11 percentage points with 54.8% of the vote. Traditionally, Chicago, East Saint Louis, and the Illinois portion of the Quad Cities have tended to vote heavily Democratic, along with the Central Illinois population centers of Peoria, Champaign-Urbana and Decatur.
Rural districts have tended to vote more heavily Republican, and the southern half of the state has historically tended Republican since the 1920s. The Republican Party was strongest in southern Illinois during the sixties and seventies when Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford won all areas of southern Illinois, with the exception of East St. Louis, three to one.
Statewide offices [edit]
Pat Quinn became governor after the impeachment and removal of Rod Blogojevich.
Rod R. Blagojevich (Democrat) was elected Governor in 2002, replacing George H. Ryan. Blagojevich was re-elected in 2006, defeating Republican state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka. However, in 2009, Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office due to charges that he abused his power while in office. Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn succeeded him.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
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