The 2024 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, as part of the 2024 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Illinois voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote. The state of Illinois has 19 electoral votes in the Electoral College this election, following reapportionment due to the 2020 United States census in which the state lost a seat.
Illinois is a strongly blue state in the Great Lakes region anchored by Chicago, with the sparsely populated southern region of the state being culturally influenced by the Upper South and Bible Belt. It has a reputation for being by far the most liberal state in the Great Lakes region. The state has voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election beginning in 1992 (doing so by at least 10% each time), including voting for Senator Barack Obama from Illinois in 2008 and 2012 and Chicago-born Hillary Clinton in 2016. This was the first election since 1868 in which Illinois did not have 20 or more electoral votes.
Illinois was won by the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Illinois shifted noticeably towards Trump, with Harris winning the state by under an 11 point margin, six points down from Biden. The state’s red shift was caused by low Democratic turnout in Cook County (home to Chicago), with Harris receiving about 300,000 fewer votes than Biden in Cook County, while Trump ran marginally ahead of his 2020 raw vote total in Chicago, Cook as a whole, and statewide. Trump became the first Republican to win the White House without Kendall County or McLean County. Illinois voted to the right of Colorado for the first time since 1964.
Primary elections
Democratic primary
The Illinois Democratic primary was held on March 19, 2024, alongside primaries in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, and Ohio.
Republican primary
The Illinois Republican primary was held on March 19, 2024, alongside primaries in Arizona, Florida, and Ohio.
Green
The 2024 Illinois Green Party presidential primary was held from March 2 to March 16, 2024, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Green Party's state primaries ahead of the 2024 presidential election. It was run by the Green Party of Illinois. It was an online vote, limited to dues-paying state party members.
General election
Candidates
On August 23, 2024, the Illinois State Board of Elections met in Chicago and Springfield to certify the following list of candidates to appear on the general election ballot:
- Kamala Harris / Tim Walz — Democratic
- Donald Trump / JD Vance — Republican
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. / Nicole Shanahan — Independent
The board also issued rulings to the nomination papers of third party and independent candidates, including placeholder candidates for the Libertarian and Green Party tickets, as well as for Kennedy and Shanahan. Both the Libertarian and Green tickets were removed from the ballot, lacking the minimum required number of 25,000 valid signatures, while Kennedy remained.
Campaign
Convention
The 2024 Democratic National Convention was held from August 19 to 22, 2024, at the United Center in Chicago. It was the first instance of a major party's presidential nominating convention held in Illinois since 1996. Here, party delegates voted on their platform for the election and formally nominated vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, with Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Polling
Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump
Results
By congressional district
Harris won 14 of 17 congressional districts.
Analysis
The 2024 presidential election resulted in Kamala Harris carrying the state of Illinois, a historic Democratic stronghold in the Midwest. Illinois has not been won by a Republican candidate at the presidential level since 1988 as a result of most of the population being concentrated in the Chicago metropolitan area. However, Illinois took a massive 6.1% shift towards the right from 2020. This rightward shift was a result of Republicans making ground in the highly populated collar counties combined with low voter turn-out for Democrats in Cook County, home of Chicago.
Despite Illinois shifting rightward, Harris became the first Democratic nominee to win over 60% of the vote in Champaign County, Illinois (home to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). Harris also won McLean County (home to Illinois State University) despite losing the presidential election. Both counties shifted slightly leftward, highlighting Harris's gains among White women with college degrees, who according to exit polls voted for Harris by a margin of 58-41%.
Illinois's shift represents broader trends across the country with Donald Trump making improvements with key-demographics, such as Hispanics. Donald Trump's improvement among most demographics can be attributed to people's concern regarding the state of the economy and the inflation rate.