The 1986 Illinois gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1986. Republican candidate

James R. Thompson James Robert Thompson Jr. (May 8, 1936 – August 14, 2020), also known as Big Jim Thompson, was an American attorney and politician who served as the 37th governor of Illinois from 1977 to 1991. A moderate Republican who sometimes took more ...

won a fourth term in office, defeating the Illinois Solidarity Party nominee,

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Adlai Stevenson III, by around 400,000 votes. Stevenson, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, originally ran for and received that party's gubernatorial nomination. However, his preferred candidate lost the lieutenant gubernatorial nomination to Mark J. Fairchild in the primary (primaries for both major parties were held March 18, 1986). When it came out after the primary that Fairchild was a member of the

LaRouche movement The LaRouche movement is a political and cultural network promoting the late Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included many organizations and companies around the world, which campaign, gather information and publish books and periodicals ...

, Stevenson dropped off of the Democratic gubernatorial

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to avoid running with Fairchild, and instead ran on the

third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a V ...

Solidarity Party ticket. The Democratic ticket, ultimately running Fairchild on the ballot alone as a lieutenant gubernatorial nominee without a gubernatorial nominee atop the ticket, only just managed to surpass the 5% mark needed for the party to retain their major party status in Illinois after the election.

Election information

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for federal offices (

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and

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), as well as those for other state offices. The election was part of the 1986 Illinois elections.

Turnout

The primaries saw turnout of 21.10% in the gubernatorial primaries, with 1,289,162 votes cast, and turnout of 18.01% in the lieutenant gubernatorial primaries, with 1,100,110 votes cast. Turnout during the general election was 52.37%, with 3,143,978 votes cast.

Democratic primary

The 1986 election was a rematch of the 1982 election, which had been narrowly won by Thompson over Adlai Stevenson III by about 5,000 votes out of over 3.5 million votes cast. However, Stevenson's efforts were largely derailed in the primary when the candidates he supported for Lieutenant Governor ( George Sangmeister) and Secretary of State (

Aurelia Pucinski Aurelia Marie Pucinski (born April 29, 1947) is a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. She previously served as a trial judge and clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Her second term expires in 2030. Early life Bor ...

) were both upset by Mark J. Fairchild and Janice Hart. While not heavily publicized during the primaries, Fairchild and Hart were followers of the controversial

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspira ...

. When this became public knowledge after the primaries, Stevenson was forced to abandon his Democratic Party nomination and run as a third-party candidate. As of 2016, this remains the last time a third party candidate finished in the top two in the Illinois governor's race. Stevenson made it clear right after learning his running mate was to be a LaRouche supporter that he would "never run on a ticket with candidates who espouse the hate-filled folly of Lyndon LaRouche".

Governor

Adlai Stevenson III, former United States Senator and 1982 gubernatorial nominee, defeated Larry Burgess in the Democratic primary. Originally

Neil Hartigan Neil F. Hartigan (born May 4, 1938) is an American lawyer and politician from Illinois. He served as the Attorney General of Illinois, the List of lieutenant governors of Illinois, 40th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Lieutenant Governor, and ...

had declared himself a candidate for governor, but after Stevenson's entrance into the race, he instead opted to run for reelection as

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorney ...

Lieutenant Governor

Republican primary

Governor

Incumbent

defeated his sole challenger, Peter Bowen.

Lieutenant Governor

Incumbent

George Ryan George Homer Ryan (born February 24, 1934) is an American former politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the 39th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. Elected in 1998, Ryan received national attention for his 1999 mora ...

won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, running unopposed.

Third-party nominations

Adlai Stevenson III's newly-formed Illinois Solidarity Party nominated him for governor and Mike Howlett for lieutenant governor. Stevenson opted to avoid having his ticket spoiling the performance of non-LaRouche affiliated Democratic nominees for statewide office by having political unknowns nominated on his Solidarity slate for all offices except lieutenant governor and secretary of state. The

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties Lists of political part ...

nominated Gary L. Shilts for governor and Gerry Walsh for lieutenant governor. The Socialist Workers Party nominated Diane Roling for governor and Jim Little for lieutenant governor. Chicago Mayor

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st Mayor of Chicago. Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city's mayor in April 1983. He served as ma ...

, a strong supporter of Stevenson's candidacy, worked to combat an attempt by a

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

activist to collect signatures for a third-party slate of Black candidates for statewide office, which was seen as likely to threaten Stevenson in a general election by dividing the Black vote.

General election

Thompson's reelection campaign received the backing of incumbent Republican president

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

References

{{US Third Party Election

Gubernatorial 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 ...

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

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...