Illinois gubernatorial election, 1986

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Illinois gubernatorial election, 1986

Flag of Illinois.svg


  1982 November 4, 1986 1990  

  Bio thompson.jpg AdlaistevensonIII.jpg No image.svg
Nominee James R. Thompson Adlai Stevenson III No candidate
Party Republican Solidarity Democratic
Running mate George Ryan Mike Howlett Mark Fairchild
Popular vote1,655,8491,256,626208,830
Percentage52.7%40.0%6.6%

Illinois gubernatorial election, 1986.svg

Green counties won by Stevenson.
Red counties won by Thompson.

Governor before election

James R. Thompson
Republican

Elected Governor

James R. Thompson
Republican

The Illinois gubernatorial elections were held on November 4, 1986. Republican candidate James R. Thompson won a fourth term in office, defeating Solidaritist Adlai Stevenson III by around 400,000 votes. The Democratic Party just passed the 5% mark to gain major party status.

James R. Thompson American politician

James Robert Thompson Jr., also known as Big Jim Thompson, was the 37th and longest-serving governor of the US state of Illinois, serving from 1977 to 1991. A Republican, Thompson was elected to four consecutive terms and held the office for 14 years. Many years after leaving public office, he served as a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

Adlai Stevenson III Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1970 to 1981

Adlai Ewing Stevenson III is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented the state of Illinois in the United States Senate from 1970 until 1981.

Contents

Results

1986 gubernatorial election, Illinois [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Republican James R. Thompson (incumbent)1,655,84952.67+3.23
Solidarity Adlai Stevenson III 1,256,62639.97-9.33
Democratic No candidate208,8306.64-42.66
Libertarian Gary L. Shilts15,6460.50-0.16
Socialist Diane Roling6,8430.22+0.22
Majority399,22312.7
Turnout 3,143,794
Republican hold Swing

Democratic Primary

The 1986 election would see a rematch of the 1982 election, narrowly won by Thompson over Adlai Stevenson III by about 5,000 votes out of over 3.5 million votes cast. However, Stevenson's efforts were largely derailed in the primary when the candidates he supported for Lieutenant Governor (George Sangmeister) and Secretary of State (Aurelia Pucinski) were both upset by Mark J. Fairchild and Janice Hart. While not heavily publicized during the primaries, Fairchild and Hart were followers of the controversial Lyndon Larouche. When this became public knowledge after the primaries, Stevenson was forced to abandon his Democratic Party nomination and run as a third-party candidate. As of 2016, this remains the last time a third party candidate finished in the top two in the Illinois governor's race. [2]

Stevenson made it clear right after learning his running mate was to be a LaRouche supporter that he would "never run on a ticket with candidates who espouse the hate-filled folly of Lyndon LaRouche". [3]

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References

  1. "1986 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Illinois". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2015-04-04.
  2. Malcolm, Andrew H. (20 March 1986), "2 CONSERVATIVE EXTREMISTS UPSET DEMOCRATS IN THE ILLINOIS PRIMARY", New York Times, pp. A18, retrieved 9 November 2016, However, politicians here suggested other reasons: an unusually low turnout of about 25 percent of the 6.1 million registered voters and the relatively unfamiliar names of Mr. Stevenson's candidates, George Sangmeister for Lieutenant Governor and Aurelia Pucinski for Secretary of State. The LaRouche victors were Mark J. Fairchild for Lieutenant Governor and Janice Hart for Secretary of State.
  3. Kraft, Scott; Greem, Larry (20 March 1986), "Two LaRouche Illinois Victories Stun Democrats", L.A. Times, retrieved 9 November 2016, At a packed news conference Wednesday night, Stevenson declared: "I will never run on a ticket with candidates who espouse the hate-filled folly of Lyndon LaRouche."