2016 United States presidential election in Illinois

2016 United States presidential election in Illinois
Turnout	68.95%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Donald Trump; Republican

The 2016 United States presidential election in Illinois was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Illinois voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Illinois had 20 votes in the Electoral College.^[1]

Illinois was won by Clinton, who garnered 55.83% of the votes cast against Trump's 38.76%, thus winning the state by a margin of 17.07%. Prior to the election, news organizations accurately predicted that the state would be carried by Clinton, who was born in Illinois. Clinton won by a slightly wider margin than Barack Obama in 2012, making it one of eleven states (and the District of Columbia) in which she outperformed Obama's 2012 margin; however, due to an increase in third-party voting, her overall percentage of the vote was lower than Obama's in both his runs.^[2] Trump flipped eleven counties red, although all of them have small populations; the most populous of them, Whiteside County, has under 60,000 residents. He also became the first Republican ever to win the White House without carrying DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Will, or Winnebago Counties.

Primaries

Presidential primary elections for three parties were held in Illinois. From January 25 to February 17, 2016, the Green Party of the United States held primaries and caucuses, as part of the Green Party presidential primaries, to elect delegates representing a candidate at the 2016 Green National Convention. Physician and activist Jill Stein won a landslide of the popular vote, taking almost all of the state's 23 delegates. On March 15, 2016, both the Democratic and Republican parties held primaries in Illinois as part of a five-state contest being held on the day in both the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. In the Democratic primaries, 156 pledged delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention were elected and awarded to candidates proportionally, according to countywide and statewide vote. In the Republican primaries, 69 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention were elected and awarded to the first place candidate, according to statewide vote.

Democratic

The 2016 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on March 15, 2016 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Forum

March 14, 2016 – Columbus, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois: The tenth forum was held at 6:00 pm EDT on March 14, 2016, at the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site (Illinois) in Springfield, Illinois. It aired on MSNBC. The first section of the town hall with Bernie Sanders was moderated by Chuck Todd; the second section of the town hall with Hillary Clinton was moderated by Chris Matthews.

Results

Six candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:^[3]

Illinois Democratic primary, March 15, 2016
Candidate	Popular vote		Estimated delegates
Candidate	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	1,039,555	50.56%	79	24	103
Bernie Sanders	999,494	48.61%	77	1	78
Willie Wilson	6,565	0.32%
Martin O'Malley (withdrawn)	6,197	0.30%	0	1	1
Lawrence "Larry Joe" Cohen	2,407	0.12%
Rocky De La Fuente	1,802	0.09%
Others	27	0.00%
Uncommitted	—		0	1	1
Total	2,056,047	100%	156	27	183
Source: The Green Papers, Illinois Board of Elections and Illinois Democratic Party - Official Pledged Delegates Allocation

Republican

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[2]

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