Illinois's 2014 elections U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • Other executive offices • State Senate • State House • State ballot measures • School boards • Judicial • Candidate ballot access

U.S. Senate, Illinois General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Richard DurbinIncumbent	53.5%	1,929,637
	Republican	Jim Oberweis	42.7%	1,538,522
	Libertarian	Sharon Hansen	3.8%	135,316
Total Votes				3,603,475
Source:Illinois Secretary of State Official Results

2014 U.S. Senate Elections in Illinois

General Election Date November 4, 2014

Primary Date March 18, 2014

November 4 Election Winner: Richard Durbin

Incumbent prior to election: Richard Durbin

Race Ratings Cook Political Report:Solid D[1] Sabato's Crystal Ball:Safe D[2]

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2014 U.S. House Elections

Voters inIllinoiselected one member to theU.S. Senate in theelection on November 4, 2014.

IncumbentRichard Durbin (D) defeated challengerJim Oberweis (R) in the general election. Durbin was first elected in 1996 and ran for re-election in 2014. Polls showed that Durbin was likely to face no significant threats to his seat.Cook Political Report designated the general election to be "Solid D" with Durbin likely to continue his tenure. Durbin also defeatedLibertarian Party candidateSharon Hansen in the general election. Each candidate ran unopposed in their primary.

Oberweis and Durbin remained split between their party lines on main issues, particularly immigration reform. Durbin presented himself as a long-term senator who had dedicated his time to serving Illinois and bringing in numerous benefits from the federal government to the state. Oberweis, on the other hand, argued that Durbin's tenure made him a "career politician" who was out of touch with the general population in Illinois.^[3]

Polls showed Durbin maintaining a lead with a majority of likely voters consistently showing their support for his campaign. Durbin maintained a large amount of wealth within his campaign coffers, totaling over $6 million in cash-on-hand. State Senator Oberweis had around $500,000 cash-on-hand, but had seen his contributions dwindle leading up to the general election.

SinceDurbin was a member of theDemocraticSenate leadership and resides in a state favorable to Democrats, many expected that some of Durbin's raised funds would likely go elsewhere to battleground states.^[4] Since 2008,Durbin gave $2,385,000 to theDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which worked to electDemocrats to theSenate.

Primary: Aprimary 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. In Illinois, state law provides for aclosed primary where a voter must be affiliated with a party to vote in that party's primary. However, voters state their affiliation at the polls and any voter may change their affiliation on the day of the primary. A voter's eligibility to vote a party's ballot may be challenged.^[5]

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

Voter registration: Tovote in the primary, voters had to register by February 18, 2014. For thegeneral election, the voter registration deadline was October 7, 2014.^[6]

See also:Illinois elections, 2014

Incumbent: The election filled the Senate seat held byRichard Durbin (D). Durbin was first elected in 1996.

Candidates

General election candidates

• Jim Oberweis
• Dick Durbin
• Sharon Hansen

March 18, 2014, primary results

Removed from ballot

• Armen Alvarez^[11][12]
• William Lee^[13][14]
• Chad Koppie
• Omar Lopez
• Roger Davis

Failed to file

• Chad Koppie^[15][16]
• Kent Fitzsimmons^[17]

Elections

General Election results

The state of Illinois held an election for theU.S. Senate on November 4, 2014. IncumbentDick Durbin (D) defeated challengersJim Oberweis (R) andSharon Hansen (L) in the general election.

U.S. Senate, Illinois General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Richard DurbinIncumbent	53.5%	1,929,637
	Republican	Jim Oberweis	42.7%	1,538,522
	Libertarian	Sharon Hansen	3.8%	135,316
Total Votes				3,603,475
Source:Illinois Secretary of State Official Results

Primary results

U.S. Senate, Illinois Republican Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jim Oberweis	56.1%	423,097
Doug Truax	43.9%	331,237
Sherry Procarione (Write-in)	0%	54
Total Votes		754,388
Source:Illinois State Board of Elections

Key votes

Below are important votes the incumbent cast during the113th Congress.

Government shutdown

See also:United States budget debate, 2013

During the shutdown in October 2013, theSenate rejected, down party lines, every House-originated bill that stripped the budget of funding for the Affordable Care Act. A deal was reached late on October 16, 2013, just hours before the debt ceiling deadline. The bill to reopen the government, H.R. 2775, lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made bySenate Democrats was to require income verification forObamacare subsidies.^[18] The final vote on H.R. 2775 was 81-18, with all 18 votes against the bill fromRepublican members.Dick Durbin voted with theDemocratic Party for the bill.^[19]

Polls

Campaign contributions

Candidate ballot access
Find detailed information onballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with theFederal Election Commission during the 2014 elections season.

Election history

2010

On November 2, 2010, Kirk won election to theUnited States Senate. He defeated Alexander "Alexi" Giannoulias (D), LeAlan M. Jones (G), Mike Labno (L), Robert L. "Bob" Zadek (I), Will Boyd (I), Corey Dabney (I), Susanne Atanus (I), Shon-Tiyon "Santiago" Horton (I), Avner Nager (I), Stan Jagla (I), Darren Raichart (I), and Lowell M. Seida (I) in the general election.^[34]

U.S. Senate, Illinois General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mark Kirk	48%	1,778,698
	Democratic	Alexi Giannoulias	46.4%	1,719,478
	Green	LeAlan M. Jones	3.2%	117,914
	Libertarian	Mike Labno	2.4%	87,247
	Independent	Robert L. "Bob" Zadek	0%	561
	Independent	Will Boyd	0%	468
	Independent	Corey Dabney	0%	33
	Independent	Susanne Atanus	0%	19
	Independent	Shon-Tiyon "Santiago" Horton	0%	16
	Independent	Avner Nager	0%	15
	Independent	Stan Jagla	0%	12
	Independent	Darren Raichart	0%	9
	Independent	Lowell M. Seida	0%	3
Total Votes				3,704,473

2008

On November 4, 2008, Durbin won re-election to theUnited States Senate. He defeated Steve Sauerberg (R), Kathy Cummings (G), Larry A. Stafford (L), Chad N. Koppie (I) and Patricia Elaine Beard (I) in the general election.^[35]

U.S. Senate, Illinois General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Richard J. Durbin	67.8%	3,615,844
	Republican	Steve Sauerberg	28.5%	1,520,621
	Green	Kathy Cummings	2.2%	119,135
	Libertarian	Larry A. Stafford	0.9%	50,224
	Constitution Party of Illinois	Chad N. Koppie	0.5%	24,059
	Independent	Patricia Elaine Beard	0%	1
Total Votes				5,329,884

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2014
• United States Senate elections, 2014

External links

• Illinois State Board of Elections

Footnotes

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