Illinois gubernatorial election, 2006
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| Illinois gubernatorial election, 2006 | ||||
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| November 7, 2006 | ||||
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| Nominee | Rod Blagojevich | Judy Baar Topinka | Rich Whitney | |
| Party | Democratic | Republican | Green | |
| Popular vote | 1,736,219 | 1,368,682 | 361,163 | |
| Percentage | 49.8% | 39.3% | 10.4% | |
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Gubernatorial Elections: |
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The Illinois gubernatorial election of 2006 occurred on November 7, 2006. The Governor of Illinois, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, won re-election for a four-year term scheduled to have ended in January 2011. However, Blagojevich was impeached in 2009. Many observers expected the race to be close, especially considering the polling [1], which has shown Governor Blagojevich had a high disapproval rating. However, the Republicans fared poorly in elections since 2002 due to scandals involving prior Governor George Ryan, as well as changing demographics in the state as a whole (see blue state).
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[edit] Candidates
[edit] General Election
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Incumbent appears in bold. Democratic, Republican and Green Party candidates are required to collect 5,000 signatures from registered Illinois voters in order to qualify for ballot placement. All others are required to collect 25,000 signatures.
- Rod Blagojevich (Democratic Party) - incumbent governor, first winning election in 2002.
- Judy Baar Topinka (Republican Party) - state treasurer and former state party chairwoman.
- Rich Whitney (Green Party) - civil rights attorney from Carbondale, Illinois.
[edit] Write In Candidates
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Write-in candidates for Governor had to pre-file separately with the local election official in each of the 102 counties in Illinois and votes for these candidates are only counted in those counties in which their filing is deemed valid.
- Marvin Koch - Chicago-area property manager and naval reservist.[2]
- Mark McCoy (Libertarian Party) - Legal Scholar and Rights Defender. Officially Endorsed by the Libertarian Party of Illinois - Mark McCoy for IL Governor 2006
- Angel Rivera - Lung Transplant Procurement Coordinator at The University of Chicago Hospital. vote4angel.com [3]
- Randy Stufflebeam - state Constitution Party chairman, USMC veteran and church activist.
- Mike Shorten Husband and father of three from Crystal Lake, IL running as an Independent Candidate. www.shorten4gov.com
[edit] Primary losers
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
- Bill Brady (Republican Party) - State Senator
- Edwin Eisendrath (Democratic Party) - former Chicago Alderman, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kendall College
- Ron Gidwitz (Republican Party) - Businessman and ex-State Board of Education Chair
- Andy Martin (Republican Party) - legal activist and frequent candidate
- Jim Oberweis (Republican Party) - dairy company owner & '02/'04 US Senate candidate
[edit] Primary Elections
[edit] Republican race
On November 7, 2005, Topinka announced that she would not seek re-election as state treasurer — instead, she entered the gubernatorial primary, hoping to challenge Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Republican primary was deeply divisive; her tenure as Party Chairman destroyed her support from the conservative wing of her party, and it was feared that her pro-choice and positive gay rights positions would be detrimental to her standing with the same conservatives. In December she announced that she would join forces with DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
In February 2006, the candidates for the Republican nomination for Illinois Governor began running their first TV ads for the March statewide primary election. Rival candidate Ron Gidwitz's advertisements, attacking Topinka, were rebuked in the same week by the Illinois Republican Party: "In an unprecedented action, the Illinois Republican Party has officially rebuked the Gidwitz campaign for this ad because the Party found that the ad violates the Party's "Code of Conduct," which was enacted to police proper conduct among Republican candidates."
Later in February, candidate Jim Oberweis, another rival for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination, started a series of attack ads for television markets, against Topinka, that were even more widely criticized, mostly for using "fake" headlines on the images of actual Illinois newspapers. [4] [5] These ads, like Gidwitz's ads, also came under review by the Illinois Republican Party. [6] Because of the controversy generated, several television stations withdrew Oberweis's ads. [7]
On March 21, 2006, Topinka won the Republican nomination with 37% of the vote.
[edit] Democratic race
Blagojevich had one competitor in Chicago city councilman Ed Eisendrath but Eisendrath lost 70% to 29%, the best showing that Blagojevich had ever faced in a primary.
[edit] General Election
[edit] Opinion polling
| Source | Date | Blagojevich (D) | Topinka (R) | Whitney (G) | Remainder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Survey USA | November 2, 2006 | 45% | 37% | 14% | 4% |
| Survey USA | October 23, 2006 | 44% | 34% | 14% | 8% |
| Rasmussen | October 19, 2006 | 44% | 36% | 9% | 11% |
| Zogby/WSJ | October 16, 2006 | 47.1% | 33.2% | 11.3% | 8.4% |
| Glengariff Group | October 15, 2006 | 39% | 30% | 9% | 22% |
| Tribune/WGN-TV | October 11, 2006 | 43% | 29% | 9% | 19% |
| Survey USA | September 20, 2006 | 45% | 39% | 7% | 9% |
| Rasmussen | September 13, 2006 | 48% | 36% | Omitted | 16% |
| Sun-Times/NBC5 | September 12, 2006 | 56% | 26% | 3% | 15% |
| Tribune/WGN-TV | September 11, 2006 | 45% | 33% | 6% | 16% |
| Zogby/WSJ | September 11, 2006 | 46.5% | 33.6% | Omitted | 19.9% |
| Research 2000 | August 31, 2006 | 47% | 39% | 2% | 12% |
| Zogby/WSJ | August 28, 2006 | 44.8% | 37.6% | Omitted | 17.6% |
| Rasmussen | August 10, 2006 | 45% | 37% | Omitted | 18% |
| Survey USA | July 25, 2006 | 45% | 34% | Omitted | 21% |
| Zogby/WSJ | July 24, 2006 | 44.4% | 36.4% | Omitted | 19.2% |
| Rasmussen | July 13, 2006 | 45% | 34% | Omitted | 21% |
| Zogby/WSJ | June 21, 2006 | 41.1% | 37.5% | Omitted | 21.4% |
| Glengariff Group | June 1-3, 2006 | 41% | 34% | 25% | |
| Survey USA | May 23, 2006 | 43% | 37% | Omitted | 20% |
| Rasmussen | April 24, 2006 | 38% | 44% | Omitted | 18% |
| Rasmussen | March 31, 2006 | 41% | 43% | Omitted | 16% |
| Rasmussen | February 25, 2006 | 42% | 36% | Omitted | 22% |
| Rasmussen | February 7, 2006 | 37% | 48% | Omitted | 15% |
| Research 2000 | January 22, 2006 | 45% | 37% | 18% |
[edit] Results
| 2006 gubernatorial election, Illinois | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Rod Blagojevich (incumbent) | 1,736,219 | 49.8 | -2.4 | |
| Republican | Judy Baar Topinka | 1,368,682 | 39.3 | -5.8 | |
| Green | Rich Whitney | 361,163 | 10.4 | +10.4 | |
| Constitution | Randy Stufflebeam (Write-in) | 19,020 | 0.5 | +0.5 | |
| Other Write-ins | 1,111 | 0.03 | n/a | ||
| Mark Robert McCoy (Write-in) | 476 | 0.01 | n/a | ||
| Majority | 367,537 | 10.5 | |||
| Turnout | 3,486,671 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
Blagojevich was declared the winner by 10:00 p.m. A factor of his win was his 38-point victory over Topinka and her just winning in rural counties, by slim margins.
[edit] Green Party Establishment
The Green Party became an established political party statewide, according to Illinois state election law, when Rich Whitney received more than 5% of the total vote for Governor. This status provides the party with several new advantages, such as lower signature requirements for ballot access, primary elections, free access to additional voter data, the ability to elect precinct committeemen, run a partial slate of candidates at any jurisdictional level, and slate candidates without petitioning. The only other statewide established political parties are the Democratic and Republican parties. It is rare for a new political party to become established statewide in Illinois, the last to do so being the Solidarity Party in 1986 and the Progressive Party before that.
[edit] See also
- 2006 Election for statewide offices in the State of Illinois
- U.S. gubernatorial elections, 2006
- State of Illinois
- Governors of Illinois
- Electoral history of Rod Blagojevich
[edit] External links
- Whitney's Campaign Website
- Blagojevich's Campaign Website
- Topinka's Campaign Website
- Stufflebeam's Campaign Website
- Mark McCoy's Campaign Website
- Koch's Campaign Website
- Quinn's Campaign Website
- Birkett's Campaign Website
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