2020 United States Senate election in Illinois Turnout 71.36%
County results
Precinct results Durbin : 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%Curran : 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%Tie : 40–50% No data
The 2020 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the
United States Senate to represent the
State of Illinois , concurrently with the
2020 U.S. presidential election , as well as
other elections to the United States Senate,
elections to the
United States House of Representatives and various
state and local elections and the
Illinois Fair Tax . Incumbent
Democratic Senator
Dick Durbin , who had been
Senate Minority Whip since 2015, won reelection to a fifth term in office, defeating Republican nominee
Mark Curran .
Durbin decisively won re-election with 54.9% of the vote. Key to Durbin's landslide victory was the heavily populated and very Democratic
Cook County home of
Chicago , which he won by around 560,000 votes. Durbin also did well in the suburban, often called collar counties of
Chicago , winning all of them except McHenry County. Durbin did well in
Champaign County , home of the
University of Illinois , and
St. Clair County , where his birth home of
East St. Louis is located. Nevertheless, this was Durbin's first election in which he failed to win the formerly Democratic-leaning rural
Alexander County . Curran did well in most rural areas of the state, including winning rural
Alexander County where a Republican hasn't won since
1972 . Durbin became the first senator from
Illinois to be elected five consecutive times since senators began being elected by popular vote in 1913.
Durbin flipped eight counties that he lost in 2014 that being
DeKalb ,
DuPage ,
Kane ,
Kendall ,
McLean ,
Peoria ,
Will and
Winnebago counties, but lost the counties of
Alexander ,
Calhoun ,
Gallatin ,
Pulaski and
Whiteside .
[1]
Election information
The primaries and general elections coincide with those for federal (
president and
House ) and those for
state offices .
Turnout
For the primaries, turnout was 28.36% with 2,279,439 votes cast.
[2]
[3]
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
Withdrawn
Declined
Endorsements
Results
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
Eliminated in primary
Withdrew
Declined
Endorsements
Mark Curran
U.S. representatives
U.S. Lieutenant Governors
U.S. Attorneys General
Jim Ryan , former Attorney General of Illinois
Illinois legislators
Newspapers
Organizations
Individuals
[30]
Results
Results by county Curran—60–70%
Curran—50–60%
Curran—40–50%
Curran—30–40%
Curran—<30%
Hubbard—40–50%
Hubbard—30–40%
Hubbard—<30
Other candidates
A legal ruling, taking note of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois , allowed the Libertarian and Green Parties to have their selected candidate on the ballot without the normal signature requirements, as they each ran a candidate for U.S. Senate in
2016 .
[31]
Constitution Party
Removed from Ballot
Green Party
Nominee
David F. Black, Green Party nominee for Illinois Attorney General in
2010
[33]
Independent American Party
Withdrawn
Libertarian Party
Nominee
Willie Wilson Party
Declared
Independents
Declared
Kevin Keely, substitute teacher and community activist (as a write-in candidate)
[42]
[43]
Albert A. Schaal (as a write-in candidate)
[44]
Lowell Martin Seida, perennial candidate (as a write-in candidate)
[45]
Withdrawn
Patrick Feges
[46]
[32]
Julie Rushing
[46]
Connor Vlakancic, affiliated with the Republican Party (switched from Republican candidacy)
[27]
[32]
General election
Predictions
Endorsements
Dick Durbin (D)
U.S. presidents
Newspapers
Organizations
Unions
Willie Wilson (WW)
Alderman
Organizations
Chicago Police Union
[81]
Polling
Poll source
Date(s) administered
Sample size
[a]
Margin of error
Dick Durbin (D)
Mark Curran (R)
Willie Wilson (I)
Other
Undecided
Research Co.
October 31 – November 1, 2020
450 (LV)
± 4.6%
52%
30%
–
4%
[b]
14%
Victory Research
October 26 – November 1, 2020
1,208 (LV)
± 2.8%
51%
26%
15%
5%
[c]
4%
Hypothetical polling
with Dick Durbin, generic Republican and Willie Wilson
with Dick Durbin and Willie Wilson
Results
Durbin also kept his landslide winning streak by winning with at least a ten-point margin. Durbin was sworn in on January 3, 2021, for his fifth term, which expires on January 3, 2027.
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Notes
^
a
b
c Key: A – all adults RV – registered voters LV – likely voters V – unclear
^ "Someone else" with 4%
^ Malouf (L) with 3%; Black (G) with 2%
Partisan clients
^
a
b Poll sponsored by Willie Wilson's campaign
References
^
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a
b
c
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^
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^
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a
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^
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^
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a
b
c
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
a
b
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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^
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a
b
c
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