2002 Illinois gubernatorial election

2002 Illinois gubernatorial election
Turnout	50.05% 0.33 pp
	County results ; Blagojevich: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%; Ryan: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
Governor before election; George Ryan; Republican	Elected Governor ; Rod Blagojevich; Democratic

The 2002 Illinois gubernatorial election occurred on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican governor George Ryan, who was plagued by scandal, did not run for a second term. Democrat Rod Blagojevich, a U.S. Congressman, ran against Republican Jim Ryan (no relation to the incumbent), the Illinois Attorney General. Blagojevich won 52% to 45%, becoming the first Democrat to win an election for governor since 1972.

Election information[]

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for federal elections (Senate and House), as well as those for other state offices. The election was part of the 2002 Illinois elections.

Turnout[]

For the primaries, turnout for the gubernatorial primaries was 30.81%, with 2,170,344 votes cast and turnout for the lieutenant gubernatorial primaries was 26.99% with 1,908,564 votes cast.^[1]^[2] For the general election, turnout was 50.05%, with 3,538,891 votes cast.^[1]^[2]

Democratic primaries[]

Governor[]

Candidates[]

Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Representative
Roland Burris, former Attorney General of Illinois, former Illinois State Comptroller, candidate for governor in 1994 and 1998 and independent candidate for Mayor of Chicago in 1995
Paul Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools

Results[]

The Democratic primary was a very close 3-way race. Blagojevich prevailed by just 25,469 votes, and just by 2.03%. Vallas did very well in the Chicago suburbs, and narrowly defeated Burris in Cook County, the most populous county in the state. Vallas led early on in the night with Burris in second and Blagojevich in third. Vallas had won probably the most vital county, Cook County. For Blagojevich to beat both opponents, he had to run the board through the rest of Illinois. Blagojevich won almost all of the state's rural counties. Eventually, Cook County had reported all of its votes, with a slight advantage for Vallas over Burris. However many votes were still left to be counted in other cities outside the Chicago area. Blagojevich managed to pull out a narrow victory by winning in Champaign County, home of Champaign. Blagojevich also did well in Sangamon County home to the state's capital, Springfield. Blagojevich also won St. Clair County home of East St. Louis. In the early morning the day after the election, Vallas realized that with all of Cook County's votes counted he had lost. At 4:18 in the morning, Vallas called Blagojevich and congratulated him, and pledged Blagojevich his full support for the general election.

County results

Democratic gubernatorial primary results^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rod Blagojevich	457,197	36.50
	Democratic	Paul Vallas	431,728	34.47
	Democratic	Roland Burris	363,591	29.03
Total votes			1,252,516	100.00

Lieutenant governor[]

Candidates[]

F. Michael Kelleher, Jr.
Pat Quinn, former Treasurer of Illinois and candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1998
Joyce Washington

Results[]

Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial primary results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pat Quinn	471,038	42.11
	Democratic	Joyce W. Washington	362,902	32.35
	Democratic	F. Michael Kelleher, Jr.	284,549	25.44
Total votes			1,118,489	100.00

Republican primary[]

Governor[]

Candidates[]

Patrick O'Malley, State Senator
Jim Ryan, Attorney General of Illinois
Corrine Wood, Lieutenant Governor

Results[]

Republican primary results^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Ryan	410,074	44.68
	Republican	Patrick O'Malley	260,860	28.42
	Republican	Corrine Wood	246,825	26.89
	Republican	Write-ins	69	0.01
Total votes			917,828	100.00

Lieutenant governor[]

Candidates[]

Carl Hawkinson, former State Representative and Knox County State's Attorney
Jack McInerney
William O'Connor
Charles Owens

Results[]

Republican lieutenant gubernatorial primary results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carl Hawkinson	373,040	47.22
	Republican	William A. O'Connor	257,375	32.58
	Republican	Jack J. McInerney	90,571	11.46
	Republican	Charles G. Owens	69,089	8.74
Total votes			790,075	100.00

General election[]

Campaign[]

In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Republican Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan by a solid margin. Ethics scandals had plagued the administration of incumbent Republican George Ryan, who was of no relation to Jim Ryan, and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government. During the campaign, Blagojevich played on the name of his opponent by asking "How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change? You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich."^[4]

Predictions[]

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[5]	Lean D (flip)	October 31, 2002
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[6]	Safe D (flip)	November 4, 2002

Polling[]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Rod Blagojevich (D)	Jim Ryan (R)	Cal Skinner (L)	Other / Undecided
SurveyUSA	October 28–30, 2002	535 (LV)	± 4.3%	53%	39%	4%	4%

Results[]

Although the election was thought to be a close one early on in the campaign, Blagojevich's big numbers out of Cook County were too much for the Republicans to come back from.

2002 Illinois gubernatorial election^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Rod Blagojevich	1,847,040	52.19%	+4.73%
	Republican	Jim Ryan	1,594,961	45.07%	-5.96%
	Libertarian	Cal Skinner	73,794	2.09%	N/A
	Independent	Marisellis Brown	23,089	0.65%	N/A
	Write-in	Peter Dale Kauss	8	0.00%	N/A
Total votes			3,538,891	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic gain from Republican

Notes[]

^ Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

References[]

^ ^a ^b "Voter Turnout". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Election Results". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Ballots Cast". Illinois State Board of Elections. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
^ Lin, Joanna (December 10, 2008). "He campaigned as a reformer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
^ "Governor Updated October 31, 2002 | The Cook Political Report". The Cook Political Report. October 31, 2002. Archived from the original on December 8, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
^ "Governors Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on December 12, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
^ "Election Results". Illinois State Board of Elections. 5 November 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2019.

[key-7] Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

[turnout-1] "Voter Turnout". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

[result-2] "Election Results". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 23 March 2020.

[illinois1-3] "Ballots Cast". Illinois State Board of Elections. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2019.

[4] Lin, Joanna (December 10, 2008). "He campaigned as a reformer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 16, 2015.

[5] "Governor Updated October 31, 2002 | The Cook Political Report". The Cook Political Report. October 31, 2002. Archived from the original on December 8, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.

[6] "Governors Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on December 12, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.

[8] "Election Results". Illinois State Board of Elections. 5 November 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2019.

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v t Rod Blagojevich
Blagojevich Family	Rod Blagojevich Patricia Blagojevich
Scandal	Rod Blagojevich controversies Rod Blagojevich corruption charges
Elections	Illinois gubernatorial election, 2002 Illinois gubernatorial election, 2006
Related people	Richard Mell Deb Mell Pat Quinn Patrick Fitzgerald John Harris Roland Burris

v t Elections in Illinois
By year	1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1998 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Presidential	1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 (Dem primary, Rep primary) 2012 2016 (Dem primary) 2020 (Dem primary)
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Special	2nd congressional, 1995 14th congressional, 2008 5th congressional, 2009 2nd congressional, 2013 18th congressional, 2015 Comptroller, 2016
Gubernatorial	1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Lieutenant gubernatorial	1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968
Other state executive offices	Attorney General 2018 2022 Secretary of State 2022 Comptroller 2016
State Senate	2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State House	2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State judicial	1936 1938 1940 1942 1948 1960 1962 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures and referendums	State capitol referendum (1834) Cutback Amendment (1980) Crime Victim Rights Amendment (1992) Governor Recall Amendment (2010) Public Pension Amendment (2012) Marsy's Law (2014) Right to Vote Amendment (2014) Transporation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment (2016) Fair Tax (2020)
Chicago mayoral	1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 (Mar) 1844 (Apr) 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1876 (Apr) 1876 (Jul) 1877 1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 (Apr) 1893 (Dec) 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 1979 1983 1987 1989 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Chicago City Council	1923 1927 1929 2015 2019
Other municipal	1924 Cicero
Cook County	1946 1980 (State's Attorney) 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022

2002 Illinois gubernatorial election

Contents

Election information[]

Turnout[]

Democratic primaries[]

Governor[]

Candidates[]

Results[]

Lieutenant governor[]

Candidates[]

Results[]

Republican primary[]

Governor[]

Candidates[]

Results[]

Lieutenant governor[]

Candidates[]

Results[]

General election[]

Campaign[]

Predictions[]

Polling[]

Results[]

See also[]

Notes[]

References[]