For related races, see 2002 United States gubernatorial elections.
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| Turnout | 50.05%  0.33 pp | |||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Blagojevich: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Ryan: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
As of 2023, this is the last Illinois governor election where no candidate running was an incumbent.
Background
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.
See also: 2002 Illinois elections § TurnoutFor 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. For the general election, turnout was 50.05%, with 3,538,891 votes cast.
Democratic primary
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.
| 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, nominee for Secretary of State in 1994 candidate for US Senate in 1996 candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1998
- Joyce Washington, Nurse
Results
- 40–50%
- 50–60%
- 60–70%
- 40-50%
- 40–50%
- 50-60%
- 60–70%
- 70–80%
| 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
- Corinne Wood, Lieutenant Governor
Results
- 30–40%
- 40–50%
- 50–60%
- 60–70%
- 30-40%
- 40-50%
- 50-60%
- 60-70%
- 30–40%
- 40–50%
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Ryan | 410,074 | 44.68 | |
| Republican | Patrick O'Malley | 260,860 | 28.42 | |
| Republican | Corinne Wood | 246,825 | 26.89 | |
| Republican | Write-ins | 69 | 0.01 | |
| Total votes | 917,828 | 100.00 | ||
Lieutenant governor
Candidates
- Carl Hawkinson, State Senator and former Knox County State's Attorney
- Jack McInerney
- William O'Connor
- Charles Owens
Results
- 30–40%
- 40–50%
- 50–60%
- 60–70%
- 70–80%
- 80–90%
- >90%
- 30–40%
- 40–50%
- 50–60%
- 40–50%
| 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 | ||
Libertarian nomination
In March 2002, the Libertarian Party of Illinois nominated Cal Skinner. Skinner had formerly served as a Republican state representative, and was a political conservative.
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."
Predictions
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report | Lean D (flip) | October 31, 2002 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe D (flip) | November 4, 2002 |
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
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.
| 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 | |||||
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Clinton (Largest city: Breese)
- Coles (Largest city: Charleston)
- Fayette (Largest city: Vandalia)
- Greene (Largest city: Carrollton)
- Jersey (Largest city: Jerseyville)
- Moultrie (Largest city: Sullivan)
- Shelby (Largest city: Shelbyville)
- White (Largest city: Carmi)
- Williamson (Largest city: Marion)
- Johnson (largest city: Vienna)
- Cumberland (largest city: Neoga)
- Crawford (largest city: Robinson)
- Wabash (largest city: Mount Carmel)
- Effingham (largest city: Effingham)
- Clark (largest city: Marshall)
- Jasper (largest city: Newton)
- Richland (largest city: Olney)
- Clay (Largest city: Flora)
- Wayne (Largest city: Fairfield)
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Rock Island (largest city: Moline)
- Whiteside (largest city: Sterling)
- LaSalle (Largest city: Ottawa)
- Winnebago (Largest city: Rockford)
- Mason (Largest city: Havana)
- Putnam (largest city: Hennpin)
See also
Notes
- Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear
References
- ^ "Voter Turnout". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on May 30, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
- ^ "Election Results". www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- ^ "Ballots Cast". Illinois State Board of Elections. March 19, 2002. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
- Mann, Anthony (March 26, 2002). "Libertarian Party nomination may pose problems for Ryan". Southern Illinoisan. Retrieved March 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- 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.
- SurveyUSA
- "Election Results". Illinois State Board of Elections. November 5, 2002. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
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