Elections were held in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

on Tuesday, November 7, 1944.

Primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

were held April 11, 1944.

Election information

Turnout

In the primaries, 1,428,685 ballots were cast (635,487 Democratic and 793,198 Republican). In the general election, 4,079,024 ballots were cast.

Federal elections

United States President

Illinois voted for the Democratic

ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a tol ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

United States Senate

Incumbent Democrat

Scott W. Lucas Scott Wike Lucas (February 19, 1892 – February 22, 1968) was an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives (1935–1939) and the U.S. Senate (1939–1 ...

won reelection to a second term.

United States House

All 26 Illinois seats in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

were up for election in 1944. Democrats flipped four Republican-held seats, making the composition of Illinois' House delegation 15 Republicans and 11 Democrats.

State elections

Governor

Incumbent

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Dwight H. Green Dwight Herbert Green (January 9, 1897 – February 20, 1958) was an American politician who served as the 30th Governor of the US state of Illinois, serving from 1941 to 1949. From childhood to early adulthood Green was born in Ligonier, No ...

, a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

Lieutenant governor

Incumbent lieutenant governor Hugh W. Cross, a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

Attorney general

Incumbent attorney general George F. Barrett, a Republican, won reelection to second term.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

Secretary of State

Incumbent third-term Secretary of State

Edward J. Hughes Edward J. Hughes (July 26, 1888 – June 28, 1944) was an American politician. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hughes studied law and then switched to engineering. Hughes served in the Illinois State Senate from 1914 to 1930 as a Democratic Party ...

, a Democrat, did not seek reelection. Hughes then died before the general election, and in June 1944, Richard Yates Rowe, a Republican, was appointed to fill the rest of his term. In the election, Democrat Edward J. Barrett was elected to permanently succeed them in office.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

Arnold P. Benson, the president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, won the Republican primary, defeating incumbent Illinois Treasurer and former congressman

William Stratton William Grant Stratton (February 26, 1914 – March 2, 2001), was the 32nd governor of Illinois from 1953 to 1961. Early life and career Born February 26, 1914 in Ingleside, Lake County, Illinois, the son of William J. Stratton, an Illinoi ...

General election

Auditor of Public Accounts

Incumbent Auditor of Public Accounts

Arthur C. Lueder Arthur Charles Lueder (March 12, 1876 – May 7, 1957) was an American lawyer businessman, and politician. Born in Elmhurst, Illinois, Lueder served in the United States Army during the Spanish–American War. He graduated from Elmhurst College ...

, a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

Treasurer

Incumbent first-term

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

William G. Stratton, a Republican, did not seek reelection, instead opting to run for Secretary of State. Republican Conrad F. Becker was elected to succeed him in office.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

Clerk of the Supreme Court

Incumbent Clerk of the Supreme Court Edward F. Cullinane, a Democrat appointed to the office in 1940 after the

death in office A death in office is the death of a person who was incumbent of an office-position until the time of death. Such deaths have been usually due to natural causes, but they are also caused by accidents, suicides, disease and assassinations. The dea ...

of Adam F. Bloch, did not seek reelection. Republican Earle Benjamin Searcy was elected to succeed him in office.

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

State Senate

Seats of the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1944. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

State House of Representatives

Seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1944. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

Trustees of University of Illinois

An election was held for three of the nine seats for Trustees of

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

. The election was for six-year terms. All three Democratic nominees won. However, since all three seats up for election were already held by Democrats, the partisan composition of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees remained unchanged, with a 9–3 Republican majority over Democrats. Democratic incumbent Karl A. Meyer was reelected to a third term. Democratic incumbent Kenny E. Williamson, who had been appointed to fill a vacancy in 1940 was reelected to his first full term. New Democratic member Walter W. McLaughlin was also elected. First-term Democratic incumbent Frank A. Jensen was not nominated for reelection.

Ballot measures

Two ballot measures were put before voters in 1944. One was a

legislatively referred state statute A legislative referral (or legislative referendum) is a referendum in which a legislature puts proposed legislation up for popular vote. This may either be voluntarily or, as is the case in many countries for a constitutional amendment, as a man ...

and one was a

legislatively referred constitutional amendment A legislative referral (or legislative referendum) is a referendum in which a legislature puts proposed legislation up for popular vote. This may either be voluntarily or, as is the case in many countries for a constitutional amendment, as a ma ...

. In order to be approved, legislatively referred state statues required the support of a majority of those voting on the statute. In order to be approved, legislatively referred constitutional amendments required approval equal to a majority of voters voting in the entire general election.Illinois Constitution of 1870 ARTICLE XIV Section 2

Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment

Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which would have amended Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution of the 1870

Constitution of Illinois The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions; the fourth and current version was adopted in 1970. The current constitution is referred to as the "Constit ...

, failed to meet the threshold for approval. The amendment would have removed a constitutional provision requiring elected county officers to wait for four years after their term expired before they would be eligible to hold that same office again.

Illinois General Banking Law Amendment

The Illinois General Banking Law Amendment, a legislatively referred state statute which amended section 10 of the Illinois General Banking Law, was approved by voters.

Local elections

Local elections were held.

References

{{Illinois elections