The 2008 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin 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 was elected President of the United States, defeating Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. This is the last senate election in Illinois in which a candidate received above 60% of the vote.

Background

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal elections (United States President and House), as well as those for state offices. 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

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Predictions

Results

Durbin's 3,615,844 votes is the highest vote total in a statewide election in Illinois. 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. Durbin comfortably won re-election with the best margin of his career, winning all but four of the state's 102 counties.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic