2026 Illinois gubernatorial election

Last updated

2026 Illinois gubernatorial election
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Party Democratic Republican
Incumbent Governor

JB Pritzker
Democratic



The 2026 Illinois gubernatorial election will be held on November 3, 2026, to elect the Governor of Illinois. Primary elections will be held on March 17, 2026. [1] This election will coincide with various other federal and state elections, including the U.S. Senate elections and U.S. House elections.

Contents

Incumbent governor JB Pritzker is running for re-election to a third term in office. [2] However, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, who ran with Pritzker in both 2018 and 2022, is running for U.S. Senate, making her ineligible to be Pritzker's running mate.

Background

A moderately to strongly blue state, Illinois has a reputation for being both the most populous and the most left-leaning state in the Midwest, traits vastly owed to the progressive and diverse Chicago metropolitan area. Though the state has historically favored Republicans for governor, Democrats have won all but one gubernatorial race in Illinois since 2002, the exception being Bruce Rauner's narrow victory in 2014. [3] In addition, Democrats have won Illinois by double-digit margins in every presidential race since 1992; and consistently occupied all of its statewide offices since 2019.

Incumbent Governor JB Pritzker, a member of the Democratic Party, has comfortably won in the past two elections, having first been elected with a 15.6% lead in 2018 [4] and won re-election by 12.5% in 2022. [5] Despite the state's strong Democratic lean, Republicans are comfortably favored in most of rural Illinois, especially in much of West Central and Southern Illinois. Illinois is one of 16 states that do not have gubernatorial term limits. If Pritzker were to win, he would be the first governor elected to a third term since Jim Thompson in 1982.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Endorsements

JB Pritzker
Labor unions
Organizations

Results

Democratic primary results [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic
Democratic
  • Patricia Tillman
  • Joseph Mosley
Total votes

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

Potential

Withdrawn

  • Phil Perez, member of the Posen Park District Commission [20]

Declined

Endorsements

Ted Dabrowski
State legislators
Local officials
James Mendrick
Local officials
  • 3 county sheriffs [22]

Results

Republican primary results [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican
Republican
  • Ted Dabrowski
  • Carrie Mendoza
Republican
  • Rick Heidner
  • Christina Neitzke-Troike
Republican
  • James Mendrick
  • Robert Renteria
Republican
  • Joseph Severino
  • Rantch Isquith
Republican
  • Max Solomon
  • Geno Young
Total votes

General election

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [25] Solid DSeptember 11, 2025
Inside Elections [26] Solid DAugust 28, 2025
Sabato's Crystal Ball [27] Safe DSeptember 4, 2025
Race to the WH [28] Safe DSeptember 16, 2025

Polling

JB Pritzker vs. Darren Bailey

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size [a] 		Margin
of error		JB
Pritzker (D)		Darren
Bailey (R)		Undecided
Victory Research [29] November 20–24, 20251,208 (LV)± 2.8%54%34%12%

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

References

  1. ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections. "Schedule of Future Elections" (PDF). www.elections.il.gov. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Armentrout, Mitchell (June 26, 2025). "Gov. JB Pritzker announces run for 3rd term to protect Illinois from 'chaos and craziness' of Trump". Chicago Sun Times . Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  3. ↑ Leip, David. "2014 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Illinois". uselectionatlas.org. Archived from the original on April 4, 2025. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  4. ↑ Leip, David. "2018 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Illinois". uselectionatlas.org. Archived from the original on May 20, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  5. ↑ Leip, David. "2022 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Illinois". uselectionatlas.org. Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  6. ↑ Cherone, Heather (July 1, 2025). "Pritzker Taps Former Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell as Running Mate". WTTW . Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  7. 1 2 Ackerman, Tom (November 5, 2025). "Pritzker among 9 candidates running for Illinois governor. Meet the candidates". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  8. ↑ "Illinois AFL-CIO 2026 Primary Election Endorsements". Politico . December 10, 2025. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Cook County Democratic Party Slate – 2026 Primary". July 18, 2025. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  10. 1 2 "Candidate Filing Search". Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved October 27, 2025.
  11. 1 2 Ahern, MaryAnn (September 8, 2025). "Darren Bailey to seek Republican gubernatorial nomination". WMAQ-TV . Retrieved September 9, 2025.
  12. ↑ Szalinski, Ben (August 14, 2025). "New Republican to run for Illinois governor as election season begins". Capitol News Illinois. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  13. ↑ Miller, Rich (September 12, 2025). "A quick briefing on Ted Dabrowski's running mate". Capitol Fax . Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Kapos, Shia (October 21, 2025). "GOP governor's race heats up". Politico . Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  15. ↑ "DuPage Co. Sheriff James Mendrick to run for governor of Illinois". WLS-TV . February 27, 2025. Archived from the original on March 10, 2025. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  16. ↑ Palermo, Gregg (June 30, 2025). "Pritzker on Lt. Gov. choice: 'You'll know who my pick is sometime soon'". Spectrum News . Retrieved July 2, 2025. The only declared Republican candidate for governor, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick, has selected author and activist Dr. Robert Renteria as his candidate for Lt. Gov.
  17. ↑ Rice, Max (April 18, 2025). "Republican Joseph Severino Enters the Governor's Race". Illinois Record. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  18. 1 2 Szalinski, Ben (October 16, 2025). "Dabrowski sets fundraising bar at $1.5M in GOP primary for governor". Capitol News Illinois . Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  19. ↑ Kaufmann, Justin (June 20, 2025). "Miller and Pritzker's clash at House hearing could be preview for 2026". Axios . Retrieved June 20, 2025.
  20. 1 2 Kapos, Shia (July 14, 2025). "Republicans lining up against Pritzker". Politico . Retrieved July 14, 2025.
  21. ↑ "Antioch Mayor "strongly considering" run for Illinois Governor". Lake and McHenry County Scanner . September 7, 2025. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 Talamonti, Jim (September 29, 2025). "WATCH: Former state lawmakers endorse, donors support GOP candidate Dabrowski". The Center Square . Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  23. ↑ Ahern, Mary Ann (August 4, 2025). "Darin LaHood won't run for Illinois governor, will focus on reelection to Congress". WMAQ-TV . Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  24. ↑ Schory, Brenda (July 10, 2025). "Geneva's Dan Ugaste a no-go for governor after all". Shaw Local . Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  25. ↑ "2026 CPR Governor Race ratings". Cook Political Report. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  26. ↑ "Gubernatorial Ratings". Inside Elections . Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  27. ↑ "2026 Governor". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  28. ↑ "Governor Forecast - 2026-2026". Race to the WH. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  29. ↑ Ortiz, Alex (November 30, 2025). "Slight majority of Illinoisans approve of Gov. JB Pritzker as he seeks third term, poll finds". WFLD . Retrieved December 1, 2025.
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