The 2006 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich won re-election to a second four-year term scheduled to have ended on January 10, 2011. However, Blagojevich did not complete his term, as he was impeached and removed from office in 2009. This was the first election since 1964 that a Democrat was re-elected governor. Many observers expected the race to be close, especially considering the polling, which had shown Governor Blagojevich to have a high disapproval rating. However, the Republicans had fared poorly due to scandals involving prior Governor George Ryan, and the increasingly unpopular presidency of George W. Bush. Exit polls showed Topinka won white voters (46%-41%-13%), while Blagojevich performed well among African Americans (80%-16%-2%) and Latinos (83%-12%-4%). Democrats won Will County for the first time since 1964, and Lake County for the first time since 1960. This was the second and last time in Illinois that a woman was a major party's nominee for governor, the other being 1994. This was also the last time a male lieutenant governor was on the winning ticket.

Background

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for Congress and those for other state offices. The election was part of the 2006 Illinois elections. For the primaries, turnout for the gubernatorial primaries was 23.13%, with 1,680,207 votes cast and turnout for the lieutenant gubernatorial primaries was 20.60% with 1,496,453 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 47.29%, with 3,487,989 votes cast.

Democratic primaries

Governor

Candidates

Results

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

Results

Republican primaries

Governor

Candidates

Declined

Campaign

On November 7, 2005, Topinka announced that she would not seek re-election as state treasurer — instead, she entered the gubernatorial primary, hoping to challenge Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Republican primary was deeply divisive; her tenure as Party Chairman destroyed her support from the conservative wing of her party, and it was feared that her pro-choice and positive gay rights positions would be detrimental to her standing with the same conservatives. In December she announced that she would join forces with DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. In February 2006, the candidates for the Republican nomination for Illinois Governor began running their first TV ads for the March statewide primary election. Rival candidate Ron Gidwitz's advertisements, attacking Topinka, were rebuked in the same week by the Illinois Republican Party: "In an unprecedented action, the Illinois Republican Party has officially rebuked the Gidwitz campaign for this ad because the Party found that the ad violates the Party's "Code of Conduct", which was enacted to police proper conduct among Republican candidates." Later in February, candidate Jim Oberweis, another rival for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination, started a series of attack ads for television markets, against Topinka, that were even more widely criticized, mostly for using "fake" headlines on the images of actual Illinois newspapers. These ads, like Gidwitz's ads, also came under review by the Illinois Republican Party. Because of the controversy generated, several television stations withdrew Oberweis's ads.

Results

[[File:2006 Illinois gubernatorial Republican primary results map by county.svg|thumb| {{legend|#e27f7f|Baar Topinka}} {{legend|#ffc8cd|30–40%}} {{legend|#ffb2b2|40–50%}} {{legend|#e27f7f|50–60%}} {{legend|#d75d5d|60–70%}} {{legend|#5bc75b|Oberweis}} {{legend|#aae5aa|30–40%}} {{legend|#87de87|40–50%}} {{legend|#5bc75b|50–60%}} {{legend|#41b742|60–70%}} {{legend|#ff7644|Brady}} {{legend|#ffac8e|30–40%}} {{legend|#ff8e65|40–50%}} {{legend|#ff7644|50–60%}} {{legend|#dc6134|60-70%}} ]]

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

Results

[[File:2006 Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial Republican primary results map by county.svg|thumb| {{legend|#e27f7f|Birkett}} {{legend|#ffc8cd|30–40%}} {{legend|#ffb2b2|40–50%}} {{legend|#e27f7f|50–60%}} {{legend|#d75d5d|60–70%}} {{legend|#5bc75b|Rauschenberger}} {{legend|#aae5aa|30–40%}} {{legend|#87de87|40–50%}} ]]

General election

Candidates

On ballot

Write-ins

The following candidates were write-in candidates.

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Aftermath

The Green Party became an established political party statewide, according to Illinois state election law, when Rich Whitney received more than 5% of the total vote for governor. The new status provided the party with several new advantages, such as lower signature requirements for ballot access, primary elections, free access to additional voter data, the ability to elect precinct committeemen, run a partial slate of candidates at any jurisdictional level, and slate candidates without petitioning. The only other statewide established political parties were the Democratic and Republican Parties. It is rare for a new political party to become established statewide in Illinois, the last to do so being the Solidarity Party in 1986 and the Progressive Party before that.