The 2008 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic

U.S. Senator 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 power ...

Dick Durbin Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin has served as the Senate De ...

sought a third term in office and faced minimal opposition from Republican Steve Sauerberg. As expected, Durbin overwhelmingly won re-election. On the same night, fellow Democratic Senator

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 (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

was elected President of the United States, defeating Republican Senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two te ...

of Arizona.

Election information

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

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

and

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

), as well as those for state offices.

Turnout

For the primary elections, turnout was 32.37%, with 2,364,409 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 68.42%, with 5,329,884 votes cast.

Democratic primary

Candidates

, incumbent

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Steve Sauerberg, physician *

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 * Mike Psak, trucker and perennial candidate

Results

General election

Predictions

Results

Durbin's 3,615,844 votes is the highest vote total in a statewide election 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 Rock ...

. No one has broken his record since, however then Vice President Joe Biden received the most votes in the presidential election in Illinois in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. Durbin comfortably won re-election with the best margin of his career, winning all but four of the state's 102 counties.

References

External links

Illinois State Board of Elections

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

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 ...

Illinois U.S. Senate
from ''OurCampaigns.com''
Illinois U.S. Senate race
from ''2008 Race Tracker''
Campaign contributions for Illinois congressional races
from

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

* ''Official campaign websites'' (Archived) *
Dick Durbin
Democratic incumbent nominee *
Steve Sauerberg
Republican nominee *
Larry Stafford
Libertarian nominee *
Kathy Cummings
Green Party nominee *
Chad Koppie
Constitution nominee {{2008 United States elections

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 po ...

Election information

Turnout

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Predictions

Results

See also

References

External links