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.
The Illinois gubernatorial election of 2006 occurred on November 7, 2006. The Governor of Illinois, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, won re-election for a four-year term scheduled to have ended on January 10, 2011. However, Blagojevich was impeached and convicted in 2009. Many observers expected the race to be close, especially considering the polling, which has shown Governor Blagojevich had a high disapproval rating. However, the Republicans had fared poorly in elections since 2002 due to scandals involving prior Governor George Ryan, and the increasingly unpopular presidency of George W. Bush.
Dawn Clark Netsch was a professor of law at Northwestern University and an Illinois politician. A member of the Democratic Party in the United States, she served in the Illinois State Senate from 1972 to 1990, and as the Illinois Comptroller in 1991 through 1994. In 1994 she was the first woman to be nominated by a major political party to run for Governor of Illinois. She co-authored the legal textbook, State and Local Government in a Federal System.
James E. Ryan is an American lawyer and politician who served two four-year terms as Illinois Attorney General. A career Republican, he received his party's nomination and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Illinois against Rod Blagojevich in 2002. He has been a professor at Benedictine University since 2003. He again ran for governor in 2010 and led incumbent Governor Pat Quinn in aggregate polling; but he failed to gain his party's nomination, coming in fourth in a field of seven candidates.
Jil Tracy is a Republican member of the Illinois State Senate, representing the 47th District since 2017. The district covers a large swath of west-central Illinois, including all of Adams, Brown, Cass, Hancock, Henderson, Mason, McDonough, Schuyler, Warren counties and portions of Fulton and Knox counties. She was a former member of the Illinois House of Representatives, who represented the 93rd district from her appointment in July 2006 until 2015.
The 2010 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in Pennsylvania and other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 1990 Alabama gubernatorial election was held on 6 November 1990 to select the governor of the state of Alabama. The election saw incumbent Republican governor Guy Hunt defeat Democrat Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association.
The 2002 Illinois gubernatorial election pitted Congressman Rod Blagojevich against Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan. Rod Blagojevich won 52% to 45%, marking the first time a Democrat was elected governor of Illinois since 1972.
Illinois is a Democratic stronghold in presidential elections and one of the three largest Democratic states in the nation alongside California and New York. It is one of the most Democratic states in the nation with all state executive offices and both state legislative branches held by Democrats. For most of its history, Illinois was widely considered to be a swing state, voting for the winner of all but two presidential elections in the 20th century. Political party strength in Illinois is highly dependent upon Cook County, and the state's reputation as a blue state rests upon the fact that the majority of its population and political power is concentrated in Chicago, Cook County, and the Chicago metropolitan area. Outside of Chicago, the suburban collar counties continue trending Democratic while downstate Illinois can be considered more conservative with some moderate regions.
The 2010 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Quinn sought and was elected to a full term in office. Quinn was elected as the Democratic nominee, the Illinois Green Party nominee was attorney and 2006 nominee Rich Whitney, the Republican nominee was State Senator Bill Brady, the Libertarian Party nominee was Lex Green, and Scott Lee Cohen ran as an independent. Governor Quinn won election to a full term in a very close race, beating Senator Brady by only about 32,000 votes, despite Brady winning in 98 of 102 Illinois counties.
United States gubernatorial elections were held in 12 states and two territories. Of the eight Democratic and four Republican seats contested, only that of North Carolina changed party hands, giving the Republicans a net gain of one governorship. These elections coincided with the presidential election on November 6, 2012.
The 2000 New Hampshire gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jeanne Shaheen won re-election.
The Illinois Gubernatorial election of 1994 was the greatest landslide in Illinois history, excepting the election of 1818. Incumbent Governor Jim Edgar carried 101 of the state's 102 counties. State Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch won only Gallatin County. This gubernatorial election is the most recent in which Cook County voted for the Republican candidate.
The 1998 Illinois gubernatorial election resulted in Republican Secretary of State George Ryan defeating Democratic Congressman Glenn Poshard.
The 2012 Washington gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2012. Candidates in the election were chosen in an August 7, 2012 primary election, under the state's nonpartisan blanket primary system, which allows voters to vote for any candidate running in the race, regardless of party affiliation. The two candidates who received the most votes in the primary election qualified for the general election.
The 2012 Utah gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2012. It was won by Republican incumbents, Governor Gary Herbert and Lieutenant Governor Greg Bell.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Illinois on November 4, 2014. All of Illinois' executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat, and all of Illinois' eighteen seats in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections were held on March 18, 2014.
Tyrone C. "Ty" Fahner is an American lawyer and a former Illinois Attorney General. He is a Republican.
The Wyoming gubernatorial election of 1986 took place on November 4, 1986. Incumbent Democrat Edgar Herschler retired rather than run for an unprecedented fourth term as Governor of Wyoming. Democratic Attorney Mike Sullivan defeated former Republican State Representative Pete Simpson.
