The 2010 United States Senate elections in Illinois took place on November 2, 2010. There were two ballot items for the same seat: a general election, to fill the Class 3 seat beginning with the

112th United States Congress The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C. on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 ...

beginning on January 3, 2011, and a special election, to fill that seat for the final weeks of the

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

. Democrat

Roland Burris Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is an American politician and attorney who is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party. In 1978, Burris was the first African American elected ...

was appointed to fill the vacancy created by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's election to the presidency, but he did not seek a full term. The elections took place alongside 33 other elections to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in other states, as well as elections to 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 ...

and various state and local elections in Illinois and other states. The registered party primaries for the full term took place on February 2, 2010, the earliest state primary elections: Republicans nominated U.S. Representative

Mark Kirk Mark Steven Kirk (born September 15, 1959) is a retired American politician and attorney who served as a United States senator from Illinois from 2010 to 2017, and as the United States representative for Illinois's 10th congressional district fr ...

, Democrats nominated State Treasurer

Alexi Giannoulias Alexi is a given name that is a variant or nickname of Alexander or Alexandra. Notable people with the name include: Men * Alexi Laiho (1979–2020), full name Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho, Finnish singer, composer, and guitarist of the death metal ...

, and the Green Party nominated journalist

LeAlan Jones LeAlan Marvin Jones (born May 8, 1979) is an American journalist who lives in Chicago's South Shore. His radio documentaries have received critical acclaim and numerous awards. Jones was the Green Party's 2010 nominee for United States Senate fr ...

. The Constitution Party and

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 ...

submitted signatures to be on the ballot but were challenged; the result of the ensuing hearings was the Constitution Party's candidate being denied placement on the ballot but the Libertarian Party's candidate Michael Labno given ballot access. On August 2, the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...

ruled that the candidates appearing on the ballot for the replacement election would be the ones of the regular election, and that the special election would appear after the general election on the ballot. Incumbent Senator Roland Burris would not appear on either ballot item. Kirk won with 48% of the vote compared to Giannoulias's 46.4%, or a winning margin of 1.6%, thus making this election the closest race of the 2010 Senate election cycle. , this was the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Illinois.

Election information

The primaries and general elections of both the special election and regularly scheduled election coincided with those for House and those for state offices.

Background

Vacancy

, the former United States Senator holding this seat, was elected President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and subsequently resigned from the Senate on November 16, 2008. Illinois law provides for the

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

to appoint replacements for Senate vacancies.

Burris's appointment

On December 9, 2008, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

arrested

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 ...

Rod Blagojevich (D) on various corruption charges, most notably allegations that he attempted to sell the appointment to the vacant U.S. Senate seat. On December 31, 2008, Blagojevich nevertheless appointed former

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 attorne ...

to fill the vacancy. After initially seeking to exclude Burris, Senate Democrats relented, and Burris was seated on January 15, 2009. Burris later declined to run for re-election.

Turnout

For the state-run primary elections (Democratic, Republican, and Green), turnout was 21.74%, with 1,652,202 votes cast. For the general election, the special election saw turnout of 47.24%, with 3,545,984 votes cast and the regularly-scheduled election saw turnout of 49.35% with 3,704,473 votes cast.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Illinois Treasurer The Treasurer of Illinois is an elected official of the U.S. state of Illinois. The office was created by the Constitution of Illinois. Current Occupant The current Treasurer of Illinois is Democrat Mike Frerichs. He was first elected to head ...

* David H. Hoffman, Chicago inspector general * Cheryle Jackson, President of the Chicago Urban League * Robert Marshall, doctor * Jacob Meister, attorney. Meister dropped out two days before the election and endorsed Giannoulias, but his name remained on the ballot.

Campaign

Incumbent Senator

did not run for a full term in 2010. Burris suffered from poor approval ratings and was investigated by the

Sangamon County, Illinois Sangamon County is located in the center of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 197,465. Its county seat and largest city is Springfield, the state capital. Sangamon County is included in the Sp ...

State's Attorney for

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

. Although no criminal charges were filed against him, Burris faced an investigation by the

Senate Ethics Committee The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee. Senate rules require the ...

. Jacob Meister withdrew from campaigning and declared his support for Alexi Giannoulias on January 31, two days before the February 2 election.

Finances

Polling

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* John Arrington, former

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

* Patrick Hughes, Chairman of Sensible Taxpayers Opposed to Increased Taxes *

, U.S. Representative for Illinois's 10th district * Donald Lowery, former Pope County Judge *

Andy Martin Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945), is an American perennial candidate who has never been elected to office, running as both a Democrat and a Republican. He has filed over 250 political lawsuits nationwide ...

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

* Kathleen Thomas, professor

Finances

Polling

Results

Green primary

Candidates

, broadcaster, football coach, and lecturer

Results

General elections

Candidates

(Democratic) *

, U.S. Representative (Republican) *

, broadcaster, football coach, and lecturer (

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

) * Michael Labno, electrical project construction manager ( Libertarian)
campaign sitePVS
* Corey Dabney (write-in) * Robert Zadek (write-in) broker
campaign site
* Will Boyd (write-in), Greenville City Councilman, pastor and former college dean * Lowell Martin Seida (Write-in), Westchester UIC Dragon Boat coach, salvage diver, computerist
campaign site

Campaign

A self-described "fiscal conservative and social moderate," Republican nominee

based his campaign on reform and compared the race to Republican

Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to: Sportsmen *Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State * Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds *Scott Brown (footballer, bor ...

's election to the Senate in February 2010. In addition, Kirk immediately criticized his Democratic opponent for his management of Bright Start, an Illinois 529 college savings program and his work at Broadway Bank. Immediately after the primary, the

National Republican Senatorial Committee The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lowe ...

aired a web ad comparing Giannoulias to the fictional character

Tony Soprano Anthony John Soprano is a fictional character and the antihero protagonist in the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the Italian-American Mafia and, especially late ...

. Politifact ranked Kirk's references to the mob as "Half True". Republican U.S. Senator

campaigned for Kirk in Illinois. Kimberly Vertolli, Kirk's ex-wife, signed on as an advisor to Mark Kirk's campaign, but didn't support his more conservative platform. On February 4, 2010, Democrat

revealed his campaign strategy, saying "come November, Congressman, your days as a Washington insider are over." On July 19, 2010, Giannoulias announced that he had raised $900,000 in the quarter that ended June 30, compared to $2.3 million raised by Kirk. The Giannoulias campaign also announced that President Obama was scheduled to attend an August 5 fundraiser for his candidate in Chicago. Kirk and Giannoulias disagreed mostly on fiscal and foreign policy. Kirk voted against Obama's Stimulus package and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As a Congressman, Kirk originally voted for

Cap and trade Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...

but during the primary campaign announced that if elected a Senator he would vote against it. Giannoulias strongly supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Obama's stimulus. Kirk opposed the building of the Park 51 Islamic center near

Ground Zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the groun ...

of New York City, while Giannoulias stated that "Americans must stand up for freedom of religion even when it's difficult." Libertarian nominee Micahel Labno was added to the ballot by the Illinois State Board of Elections after gaining ballot access by means of citizen petition. Labno, an electrical project construction manager and recruiter for Private Security Union Local 21 ran on a platform of downsizing or cutting some Federal agencies and reducing taxes and government regulations. He also supported allowing citizens to opt out of

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. Labno is

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...

and supports

2nd Amendment The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Bill of Rights. In ''District of Columbia v. Helle ...

rights. In August 2010, Democratic candidate

declared Labno a legitimate challenge from the right for

. Labno responded on his Facebook fan page, saying "This is very true Alexi, and you should be afraid too." Labno attended the September 18, 201
Right Nation rally
in

Hoffman Estates Hoffman Estates is a village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, with a small section in Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 52,530. The village now serves ...

, Illinois headlined by conservative media figure Glenn Beck. While greeting attendees Labno noted that Republican candidate Kirk did not attend. On August 27 the Illinois Board of Elections approved the Libertarian Party's petition to include its candidates on the ballot.

Predictions

Debates

Kirk and Giannoulias debates (other candidates were not invited): * October 10: Nationwide audience on

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. * October 19: Sponsored by League of Women Voters on

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

. Jones and Labno debate: * Hosted by

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and lis ...

held in Chicago.

Polling

Fundraising

Results

References

External links

Illinois State Board of Elections
*
Official candidate list

Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2010
at Ballotpedia
U.S. Congress candidates for Illinois
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Illinois U.S. Senate
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from

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2010 Illinois Senate General Election: All Head-to-Head Matchups
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Illinois Senate
from

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

Illinois Senate – Giannoulias vs. Kirk
from

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political new ...

2010 Illinois Senate Race
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

Race profile
from

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Race for U.S. Senate
from the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

;Debates and forums
Democratic (January 12)
an
Republican (January 14, 2010) Primary Debates
videos from sponsor

ABC7 Chicago WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on North State ...

Candidate forum

Chicago Tonight ''Chicago Tonight'' is a television news program broadcast weeknights on WTTW in Chicago. It reports primarily on local politics, education, business, culture, science and health, with a mix of in-studio panel discussions, one-on-one interview ...

. October 27, 2010 ;Official campaign sites (Archived)
Will Boyd for U.S. Senate

Alton Franklin for U.S. Senator

Alexi Giannoulias for Illinois
Democratic nominee
David Hoffman for U.S. Senate

LeAlan M. Jones for U.S. Senate
Green Party nominee
Mark Kirk for U.S Senate
Republican nominee
Michael Labno for U.S. Senate
Libertarian Party nominee
Jacob Meister for U.S. Senate

Kathleen Thomas for U.S. Senate

Robert Zadek for U.S. Senate
Independent Conservative – Write-In Candidate {{Illinois elections 2010 Illinois elections

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 ...

2010 Illinois 2010 Illinois Senate United States Senate 2010