| Election Name: | 2006 Illinois gubernatorial election |
| Country: | Illinois |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2002 Illinois gubernatorial election |
| Previous Year: | 2002 |
| Next Election: | 2010 Illinois gubernatorial election |
| Next Year: | 2010 |
| Election Date: | November 7, 2006 |
| Image1: | File:Rod Blagojevich (4125975741) (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Rod Blagojevich |
| Running Mate1: | Pat Quinn |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,736,731 |
| Percentage1: | 49.79% |
| Running Mate2: | Joe Birkett |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,369,315 |
| Percentage2: | 39.26% |
| Image3: | File:Rich Whitney (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee3: | Rich Whitney |
| Running Mate3: | Julie Samuels |
| Party3: | Green Party of the United States |
| Popular Vote3: | 361,336 |
| Percentage3: | 10.36% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | Rod Blagojevich |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Rod Blagojevich |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Turnout: | 47.29% 2.76 pp |
The 2006 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich won re-election to a second four-year term scheduled to have ended on January 10, 2011. However, Blagojevich did not complete his term, as he was impeached and removed from office in 2009. This was the first election since 1964 that a Democrat was re-elected governor.
Many observers expected the race to be close, especially considering the polling,[1] which had shown Governor Blagojevich to have a high disapproval rating. However, the Republicans had fared poorly due to scandals involving prior Governor George Ryan, and the increasingly unpopular presidency of George W. Bush. Exit polls showed Topinka won white voters (46%-41%-13%), while Blagojevich performed well among African Americans (80%-16%-2%) and Latinos (83%-12%-4%). Democrats won Will County for the first time since 1964, and Lake County for the first time since 1960.
This was the second and last time in Illinois that a woman was a major party's nominee for Governor, the other being 1994. This was also the last time a male lieutenant governor was on the winning ticket.
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for Congress and those for other state offices. The election was part of the 2006 Illinois elections.
For the primaries, turnout for the gubernatorial primaries was 23.13%, with 1,680,207 votes cast and turnout for the lieutenant gubernatorial primaries was 20.60% with 1,496,453 votes cast.[2] [3] For the general election, turnout was 47.29%, with 3,487,989 votes cast.[2] [3]
On November 7, 2005, Topinka announced that she would not seek re-election as state treasurer - instead, she entered the gubernatorial primary, hoping to challenge Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Republican primary was deeply divisive; her tenure as Party Chairman destroyed her support from the conservative wing of her party, and it was feared that her pro-choice and positive gay rights positions would be detrimental to her standing with the same conservatives. In December she announced that she would join forces with DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
In February 2006, the candidates for the Republican nomination for Illinois Governor began running their first TV ads for the March statewide primary election. Rival candidate Ron Gidwitz's advertisements, attacking Topinka, were rebuked in the same week by the Illinois Republican Party: "In an unprecedented action, the Illinois Republican Party has officially rebuked the Gidwitz campaign for this ad because the Party found that the ad violates the Party's "Code of Conduct", which was enacted to police proper conduct among Republican candidates."
Later in February, candidate Jim Oberweis, another rival for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination, started a series of attack ads for television markets, against Topinka, that were even more widely criticized, mostly for using "fake" headlines on the images of actual Illinois newspapers. These ads, like Gidwitz's ads, also came under review by the Illinois Republican Party. Because of the controversy generated, several television stations withdrew Oberweis's ads.
The following candidates were write-in candidates.[6]
| Source | Ranking | As of | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | The Cook Political Report[7] | November 6, 2006 | ||
| align=left | Sabato's Crystal Ball[8] | November 6, 2006 | ||
| align=left | Rothenberg Political Report[9] | November 2, 2006 | ||
| align=left | Real Clear Politics[10] | November 6, 2006 |
| Source | Date | Rod | Judy Baar Topinka (R) | Rich Whitney (G) | Other | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Survey USA | November 2, 2006 | 45% | 37% | 14% | 4% | ||
| align=left | Survey USA | October 23, 2006 | 44% | 34% | 14% | 8% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | October 19, 2006 | 44% | 36% | 9% | 11% | ||
| align=left | Zogby/WSJ | October 16, 2006 | 47.1% | 33.2% | 11.3% | 8.4% | ||
| align=left | Glengariff Group | October 15, 2006 | 39% | 30% | 9% | 22% | ||
| align=left | Tribune/WGN-TV | October 11, 2006 | 43% | 29% | 9% | 19% | ||
| align=left | Survey USA | September 20, 2006 | 45% | 39% | 7% | 9% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | September 13, 2006 | 48% | 36% | – | 16% | ||
| align=left | Sun-Times/NBC5 | September 12, 2006 | 56% | 26% | 3% | 15% | ||
| align=left | Tribune/WGN-TV | September 11, 2006 | 45% | 33% | 6% | 16% | ||
| align=left | Zogby/WSJ | September 11, 2006 | 46.5% | 33.6% | – | 19.9% | ||
| align=left | Research 2000 | August 31, 2006 | 47% | 39% | 2% | 12% | ||
| align=left | Zogby/WSJ | August 28, 2006 | 44.8% | 37.6% | – | 17.6% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | August 10, 2006 | 45% | 37% | – | 18% | ||
| align=left | Survey USA | July 25, 2006 | 45% | 34% | – | 21% | ||
| align=left | Zogby/WSJ | July 24, 2006 | 44.4% | 36.4% | – | 19.2% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | July 13, 2006 | 45% | 34% | – | 21% | ||
| align=left | Zogby/WSJ | June 21, 2006 | 41.1% | 37.5% | – | 21.4% | ||
| align=left | Glengariff Group | June 1–3, 2006 | 41% | 34% | – | 25% | ||
| align=left | Survey USA | May 23, 2006 | 43% | 37% | – | 20% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | April 24, 2006 | 38% | 44% | – | 18% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | March 31, 2006 | 41% | 43% | – | 16% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | February 25, 2006 | 42% | 36% | – | 22% | ||
| align=left | Rasmussen | February 7, 2006 | 37% | 48% | – | 15% | ||
| align=left | Research 2000 | January 22, 2006 | 45% | 37% | – | 18% |
The Green Party became an established political party statewide, according to Illinois state election law, when Rich Whitney received more than 5% of the total vote for governor. The new status provided the party with several new advantages, such as lower signature requirements for ballot access, primary elections, free access to additional voter data, the ability to elect precinct committeemen, run a partial slate of candidates at any jurisdictional level, and slate candidates without petitioning. The only other statewide established political parties were the Democratic and Republican Parties. It is rare for a new political party to become established statewide in Illinois, the last to do so being the Solidarity Party in 1986 and the Progressive Party before that.