1994 Illinois gubernatorial election

For related races, see 1994 United States gubernatorial elections.

1994 Illinois gubernatorial election

←  1990 November 8, 1994 1998  →
Turnout	50.77% 3.23 pp
Nominee Jim Edgar Dawn Clark Netsch Party Republican Democratic Running mate Bob Kustra Penny Severns Popular vote 1,984,318 1,069,850 Percentage 63.87% 34.44%
County results Edgar:     50-60%     60-70%     70-80%     80-90% Netsch:     40–50%
Governor before election Jim Edgar Republican Elected Governor Jim Edgar Republican

The 1994 Illinois gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican Governor Jim Edgar won reelection in the largest landslide in well over a century, after the elections of 1818 and 1848.

Edgar carried 101 of the state's 102 counties over the Democratic nominee, State Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch, with Netsch only winning Gallatin County by a narrow margin. This was the first time in Illinois that a woman was a major party's nominee for governor, with 2006 being the only other time.

To date, this is the most recent statewide election in which Cook County voted for a Republican candidate, a Republican governor won a second term in Illinois, and the last time any gubernatorial candidate received over 60% of the vote. Clark Netsch's 34% of the vote was the worst performance for a Democratic gubernatorial nominee in almost a century.

Additionally, this is to date the closest a gubernatorial candidate has ever come to winning every single county in the state; Edgar lost Gallatin County by a mere 3 votes, less than 0.1%. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for congress, as well as those for other state offices. The election was part of the 1994 Illinois elections.

The 1994 midterm elections saw a strong showing by the Republican Party, which was dubbed the "Republican Revolution".

For the primaries, turnout for the gubernatorial primaries was 29.16%, with 1,794,357 votes cast and turnout for the lieutenant gubernatorial primaries was 23.44% with 1,442,160 votes cast. ^[3] For the general election, turnout was 50.77%, with 3,106,556 votes cast. ^[1]

Democratic primaries

Governor

Candidates

• Roland Burris, Illinois Attorney General
• James Elroy Gierach
• Sheila A. Jones, perennial candidate
• Dawn Clark Netsch, Illinois Comptroller
• Richard Phelan, President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

Results

Democratic gubernatorial primary results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dawn Clark Netsch	487,364	44.35
	Democratic	Roland W. Burris	401,142	36.50
	Democratic	Richard Phelan	160,576	14.61
	Democratic	James Elroy Gierach	26,752	2.43
	Democratic	Sheila A. Jones	23,191	2.11
Total votes			1,099,025	100.00

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

• Anthony P. Harper
• Penny Severns, Illinois State Senator
• Sheila Smith

Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial primary results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Penny Severns	406,510	45.75
	Democratic	Sheila Smith	366,760	41.27
	Democratic	Anthony P. Harper	115,347	12.98
Total votes			888,617	100

Republican primaries

Governor

Candidates

• Jim Edgar, incumbent governor
• Jack Roeser, businessman

Results

Republican gubernatorial primary results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Edgar (incumbent)	521,590	75.01
	Republican	Jack Roeser	173,742	23.89
Total votes			695,332	100.00

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

• Bob Kustra, incumbent lieutenant governor

Results

Republican lieutenant gubernatorial primary results ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Kustra (incumbent)	553,543	100
Total votes			553,543	100

General election

Polling

Source	Date	Jim Edgar (R)	Dawn Clark Netsch (D)
Chicago Tribune	October 30, 1994	60%	25%
Chicago Tribune	October 23, 1994	61%	22%

Results

1994 gubernatorial election, Illinois ^{[4] [5] [1]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jim Edgar (incumbent)	1,984,318	63.9	+13.1
	Democratic	Dawn Clark Netsch	1,069,850	34.4	−13.8
	Libertarian	David L. Kelley	52,388	1.69	+1.69
	Write-in		10	0.0	n-a
Majority			914,468	29.5
Turnout			3,106,556	50.77
	Republican hold		Swing

References

1. "State of Illinois official vote cast at the general election ." Illinois State Board of Elections. 1978. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
2. "1994 Gubernatorial General Election Data Graphs - Illinois". US Election Atlas. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
3. "State of Illinois official vote cast at the primary election held on ..." Illinois State Board of Elections. 1966. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
4. "Vote Totals List". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
5. "1994 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Illinois". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved April 4, 2015.