The 2010 United States Senate elections in Illinois took place on November 2, 2010. There were two ballot items for the same seat: a general election, to fill the Class 3 seat beginning with the 112th United States Congress beginning on January 3, 2011, and a special election, to fill that seat for the final weeks of the 111th Congress. Democrat Roland Burris, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created by Barack Obama's election to the presidency, did not seek a full term.
The elections took place alongside 33 other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections in Illinois and other states. The registered party primaries for the full term took place on February 2, 2010, the earliest state primary elections: Republicans nominated U.S. Representative Mark Kirk, Democrats nominated State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, and the Green Party nominated journalist LeAlan Jones. The Constitution Party and Libertarian Party submitted signatures to be on the ballot but were challenged; the result of the ensuing hearings was the Constitution Party's candidate being denied placement on the ballot but the Libertarian Party's candidate Michael Labno given ballot access.
On August 2, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the candidates appearing on the ballot for the replacement election would be the ones of the regular election, and that the special election would appear after the general election on the ballot. Incumbent Senator Roland Burris would not appear on either ballot item. Kirk won with 48% of the vote compared to Giannoulias's 46.4%, or a winning margin of 1.6%, thus making this election the closest race of the 2010 Senate election cycle. Kirk was sworn in on November 29, 2010. As of , this was the only time since 1998 that Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Illinois.
Election information
The primaries and general elections of both the special election and regularly scheduled election coincided with those for House and those for state offices.
Background
Vacancy
Barack Obama, the former United States Senator holding this seat, was elected President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and subsequently resigned from the Senate on November 16, 2008. Illinois law provides for the Governor of Illinois to appoint replacements for Senate vacancies.
Burris's appointment
On December 9, 2008, the FBI arrested Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) on various corruption charges, most notably allegations that he attempted to sell the appointment to the vacant U.S. Senate seat. On December 31, 2008, Blagojevich nevertheless appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to fill the vacancy. After initially seeking to exclude Burris, Senate Democrats relented, and Burris was seated on January 15, 2009.
Burris later declined to run for election.
Turnout
For the state-run primary elections (Democratic, Republican, and Green), turnout was 21.74%, with 1,652,202 votes cast.
For the general election, the special election saw turnout of 47.24%, with 3,545,984 votes cast and the regularly-scheduled election saw turnout of 49.35% with 3,704,473 votes cast.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Treasurer
David H. Hoffman, Chicago inspector general
Cheryle Jackson, President of the Chicago Urban League
Robert Marshall, doctor
Jacob Meister, attorney.
Campaign
Incumbent Senator Roland Burris did not run for a full term in 2010. Burris suffered from poor approval ratings and was investigated by the Sangamon County, Illinois State's Attorney for perjury. Although no criminal charges were filed against him, Burris faced an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee.
Jacob Meister withdrew from campaigning and declared his support for Alexi Giannoulias on January 31, two days before the February 2 election.