Illinois gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014

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Illinois Gubernatorial and Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: March 18, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

Race rating: Lean Democrat

November 4 Election Winners: Bruce Rauner Evelyn Sanguinetti

Incumbents prior to election: Gov. Pat Quinn Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon

Gov. Pat Quinn Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon

Illinois State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General Down Ballot Treasurer, Controller

Trifecta loss for Democrats

State executive offices in Illinois

The Illinois gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Governor Pat Quinn (D) ran unsuccessfully for re-election, losing to Republican challenger Bruce Rauner in the general election. Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon, however, opted to run for state comptroller in 2014 rather than seek re-election with Quinn. She lost that race to Republican incumbent Judy Baar Topinka.

Quinn was widely recognized as one of the most vulnerable governors facing re-election in the 2014 electoral cycle.^[1] He faced Republican nominee Bruce Rauner and Libertarian Party candidate Chad Grimm in the general election.

The Illinois gubernatorial race became a heated contest between Quinn and Rauner with polls showing razor-thin margins between the two candidates. It was believed that Grimm's share of the vote could impact the outcome of the general election based on polling details available here. Learn more about the history of this close election in the race background section or read about debates in the election in the debates section.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Illinois uses an open primary system. Voters do not have to register with a party, but they do have to choose, publicly, which party's ballot they will vote on at the primary election.^[2][3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

The competitive gubernatorial contest was the only race on the November ballot that threatened to shift the partisan balance of power in Illinois. Going into the 2014 elections, both the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois State Senate were considered safe Democratic, but because the governor's office turned red, Illinois lost its trifecta status. Learn more about the state's most competitive legislative races on the battleground chambers page.

Candidates

Running mates listed together in order of "Governor/Lieutenant Governor"

General election

Pat Quinn (Incumbent)/Paul Vallas^[4]
Bruce Rauner/Evelyn Sanguinetti^[5]
Chad Grimm/Alex Cummings^[6][7]

Lost in the primary

Tio Hardiman/Brunell Donald^[8][8][9]
Bill Brady/Maria Rodriguez^[10][11]
Kirk Dillard/Jil Tracy - State Senator^[12][13]
Dan Rutherford/Steve Kim - State Treasurer^[14][15]

Failed to qualify

Scott Summers/Bob Pritchett, Jr.^[16]
Michael Oberline/Don Stone^[17]
Michael Hawkins/Kimberly Kusch^[18]

Results

General election

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bruce Rauner/Evelyn Sanguinetti	50.3%	1,823,627
	Democratic	Pat Quinn/Paul Vallas Incumbent	46.3%	1,681,343
	Libertarian	Chad Grimm/Alex Cummings	3.4%	121,534
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0%	1,186
Total Votes				3,627,690
Election results via Illinois State Board of Elections

Primary election

Democratic primary

Governor and Lt. Governor of Illinois, Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Pat Quinn & Paul Vallas Incumbent	71.9%	321,818
Tio Hardiman & Brunell Donald	28.1%	125,500
Total Votes		447,318
Election results via Illinois State Board of Elections.

Republican primary

Governor and Lt. Governor of Illinois, Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Bruce Rauner & Evelyn Sanguinetti	40.1%	328,934
Kirk Dillard & Jil Tracy	37.2%	305,120
Bill Brady & Maria Rodriguez	15.1%	123,708
Dan Rutherford & Steve Kim	7.6%	61,948
Total Votes		819,710
Election results via Illinois State Board of Elections.

Race background

Gov. Pat Quinn (D) lost his bid for re-election in 2014 to Republican Bruce Rauner. Quinn previously served as lieutenant governor under Rod Blagojevich. He became governor after Blagojevich's impeachment in 2009 and won a full term in 2010. Quinn was the second-least popular governor up for re-election in 2014, according to approval ratings compiled by FiveThirtyEight. According to multiple outside ratings, Quinn was among the most vulnerable governors in the 2014 electoral cycle.^[19][20]

Incumbent Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon (D) announced in February 2013 that she would not run for re-election in 2014 alongside Quinn, her 2010 running mate. Simon later declared her candidacy for state comptroller.^[21][22] Quinn chose former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas as his new running mate.^[23]

The 2014 electoral cycle marked the first time in Illinois history that candidates for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor ran on a single ticket in the primary election phase.^[23]

As a result of the 2014 elections, Illinois became one of 20 states under divided government and did not have a state government trifecta.

Minor party candidates

Quinn and Rauner ran against Libertarian candidate Chad Grimm. Initially, there were three other minor party or independent tickets in the race, including Michael Oberline (Constitution), Scott Summers (Green), and Michael Hawkins (independent). The Illinois State Board of Elections ruled on petition challenges on August 22, 2014, disqualifying Oberline, Summers, and Hawkins from appearing on the November 4 ballot. It was the first time in a decade that the Libertarian Party, which survived the signature challenge, was the only minor party to compete for Illinois statewide office in the general election.^[24]

Debates

Debate media

October 9 debate

Bruce Rauner (R) and Pat Quinn (D) traded barbs over past executive experiences during a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters of Illinois and WTVP. Quinn criticized Rauner as a political novice who had not been effective at turning around businesses as an equity investor. He cited bankruptcy proceedings for a nursing home operator run by Rauner's firm that was sued for wrongful deaths as examples of Rauner's alleged lack of business acumen. Rauner responded by pointing to poor state management of a $54.5 million anti-violence grant that had been under investigation by federal officials. The Republican candidate claimed that Quinn and state Democrats used the funds to shore up African American votes in the state, while Quinn argued that he eliminated the program when irregularities were brought to his attention.^[25]

Quinn asserted that the state's economic fortunes improved in the past four years, with increases in jobs throughout the state and decreased unemployment. Rauner argued that Quinn had not been a successful governor, claiming that "a small group of Chicago machine politicians" led the state down the wrong path.^[25]

Polls

General election
All candidates

**Incumbency is denoted by asterisk (*)

Quinn vs. Rauner

**Incumbency is denoted by asterisk (*)

Republican Primary

**Due to the nature of the comparison, a placeholder figure of 0% is assigned to candidates not included in any given match-up round

November 2012

Public Policy Polling surveyed 500 registered Illinois voters through live telephone interviews from November 26 to 28, 2012. The respondents were given a series of hypothetical match-ups between Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and three potential Republican candidates, and asked which of the two candidates they would vote for in the 2014 election. The margin of error is +/- 4.4 percent. ^[26]

Campaign media

General election

Pat Quinn & Paul Vallas

Bruce Rauner & Evelyn Sanguinetti

Primary election

Pat Quinn & Paul Vallas

• Quinn/Vallas Official Campaign site

Tio Hardiman & Brunell Donald

• Hardiman/Donald Official Campaign site

Facebook

Twitter

• YouTube
  

Kirk Dillard & Jil Tracy

• Dillard/Tracy Official Campaign site

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Bill Brady & Maria Rodriguez

• Brady/Rodriguez Official Campaign site

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

Bruce Rauner & Evelyn Sanguinetti

• Rauner/Sanguinetti Official Campaign site

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

Dan Rutherford & Steve Kim

• Dan Rutherford for Governor 2014 Official Campaign Website

• Facebook
• Twitter

Ad spending

The Wesleyan Media Project published a report on September 30, 2014, highlighting spending on gubernatorial races from September 12-25. This report found that Democratic and Republican groups spent a total of $46.84 million on TV ads in 15 states with gubernatorial elections. The following chart details the group's findings, including spending amounts and number of ads:^[27]

Note: A bolded number indicates the highest total for this category. A number in italics is the lowest total for this category.

Past elections

2010

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Pat Quinn & Sheila Simon Incumbent	46.8%	1,745,219
	Republican	Bill Brady & Jason Plummer	45.9%	1,713,385
	Independent	Scott Lee Cohen & Baxter Swilley	3.6%	135,705
	Green	Rich Whitney & Don Crawford	2.7%	100,756
	Libertarian	Lex Green & Ed Ruthledge	0.9%	34,681
	None	Write-in	0%	243
Total Votes				3,729,989
Election results via Illinois State Board of Elections

Voter turnout

Political scientist Michael McDonald's United States Elections Project studied voter turnout in the 2014 election by looking at the percentage of eligible voters who headed to the polls. McDonald used voting-eligible population (VEP), or the number of eligible voters independent of their current registration status, to calculate turnout rates in each state on November 4. He also incorporated ballots cast for the highest office in each state into his calculation. He estimated that 81,687,059 ballots were cast in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, representing 35.9 percent of the VEP.^[28] By comparison, 61.6 percent of VEP voted in the 2008 presidential election and 58.2 percent of VEP voted in the 2012 presidential election.^[29]

Quick facts

• According to PBS Newshour, voter turnout in the 2014 midterms was the lowest since the 1942 midterms, which took place during the nation's involvement in World War II.^[30]

• Forty-three states and the District of Columbia failed to surpass 50 percent turnout in McDonald's analysis.

• The three states with the lowest turnout according to McDonald's analysis were Texas (28.3 percent), Tennessee (28.6 percent), and Indiana (28.8 percent).

• Maine (58.5 percent), Wisconsin (56.5 percent), and Colorado (54.5 percent) were the three states with the highest turnout.

• There were only 12 states that increased voter turnout in 2014 compared to the 2010 midterm elections.^[31]

Note: Information from the United States Elections Project was last updated on December 16, 2014.

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $127,090,488 during the election. This information was last updated on May 13, 2015.^[32]

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
Bruce Rauner/Evelyn Sanguinetti	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$89,203,050
Patrick Quinn/Paul Vallas	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$33,372,111
Kirk Dillard/Jil Tracy	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$2,348,178
Dan Rutherford/Steve Kim	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$1,734,547
Bill Brady/Maria Rodriguez	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$362,335
Tio Hardiman/Brunell Donald	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$40,267
Chad Grimm/Alex Cummings	Illinois Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$30,000
Grand Total Raised			$127,090,488

Key deadlines

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Illinois + Governor + Election + 2014"

See also

• Governor of Illinois
• Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
• Illinois state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014
• Preview of 2014's most competitive gubernatorial races
• State executive debates, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Illinois (dead link)
• Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
• First Republican primary debate (video)
• Second Republican primary debate (video) part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
• Media coverage
  • WTTW Chicago Tonight

Illinois News Network stories

• No agreement on term limits among gubernatorial candidates - Oct. 8, 2013
• GOP gubernatorial candidates differ on Right to Work - Nov. 25, 2013
• Tax extension not popular with candidates - Feb. 10, 2014
• Corporate incentives and the candidates - Feb. 25, 2014
• Gubernatorial candidates and the progressive tax - Feb. 28, 2014
• Gubernatorial candidates talk school choice - Mar. 4, 2014

Footnotes

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