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2008 United States Senate election in Illinois

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Field	Value
election_name	2008 United States Senate election in Illinois
country	Illinois
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	2002 United States Senate election in Illinois
previous_year	2002
next_election	2014 United States Senate election in Illinois
next_year	2014
election_date	November 4, 2008
turnout	68.42%
image1	File:Richard Durbin official photo (cropped).jpg
image_size	x150px
nominee1	Dick Durbin
party1	Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote1	3,615,844
percentage1	67.84%
image2	3x4.svg
nominee2	Steve Sauerberg
party2	Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote2	1,520,621
percentage2	28.53%
map_image	2008 United States Senate election in Illinois results map by county.svg
map_size	160px
map_caption	County results
Durbin:
Sauerberg:
title	U.S. Senator
before_election	Dick Durbin
before_party	Democratic Party (United States)
after_election	Dick Durbin
after_party	Democratic Party (United States)

Durbin:
Sauerberg:

The 2008 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin sought a third term in office and faced minimal opposition from Republican Steve Sauerberg. As expected, Durbin overwhelmingly won re-election. On the same night, fellow Democratic Senator Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, defeating Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.

As of 2025, this is the last Senate election in Illinois in which a candidate received above 60% of the vote.

Background

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal elections (United States President and House), as well as those for state offices.

For the primary elections, turnout was 32.37%, with 2,364,409 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 68.42%, with 5,329,884 votes cast.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Dick Durbin, incumbent U.S. Senator

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Steve Sauerberg, physician
Andy Martin, perennial candidate
Mike Psak, trucker and perennial candidate

Results

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report		October 23, 2008
CQ Politics		October 31, 2008
Rothenberg Political Report		November 2, 2008
Real Clear Politics		November 4, 2008

Results

Durbin's 3,615,844 votes is the highest vote total in a statewide election in Illinois. No one has broken his record since, however then Vice President Joe Biden received the most votes in the presidential election in Illinois in 2020. Durbin comfortably won re-election with the best margin of his career, winning all but four of the state's 102 counties.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Ogle (largest city: Rochelle)
Jo Daviess (Largest city: Galena)
Carroll (largest city: Savanna)
Stephenson (largest city: Freeport)
Boone (largest city: Belvidere)
DuPage (largest city: Aurora)
Kane (largest city: Aurora)
Kendall (largest village: Oswego)
McHenry (largest city: Crystal Lake)
Putnam (largest city: Hennpin)
Ford (largest city: Paxton)
Iroqouis (largest city: Watseka)
Livingston (largest city: Pontiac)
Washington (largest city: Nashville)
Monroe (largest city: Waterloo)
Effingham (largest city: Effingham)
Wabash (largest city: Mount Carmel)
Richland (largest city: Olney)
Lawrence (Largest city: Lawrenceville)
Crawford (largest city: Robinson)
Clark (largest city: Marshall)

References

"Voter Turnout". Illinois State Board of Elections.
"Election Results". Illinois State Board of Elections.
(February 5, 2008). "Ballots Cast". Elections.il.gov.
"2008 Senate Race ratings for October 23, 2008".
link. (October 28, 2010 ''CQ Politics'')
"2008 Senate ratings".
"2008 RCP Averages & Senate Results". Real Clear Politics.
"Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 4, 2008". Clerk.house.gov.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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