Illinois Legislative News: 2024 General Election Results
Third Reading Consulting Group
In what was a bad showing for Democrats nationally, Illinois Democrats held onto all their Congressional seats and appear likely to keep their current General Assembly makeup following the November 5 general election. At the presidential level, Vice President Kamala Harris defeated former President Donald Trump in Illinois by 8.6%, around half the 17-point margin of victory for Democrat presidential candidates in both the 2020 and 2016 elections.
All Congressional incumbents in Illinois will keep their seats, maintaining the state’s 14 to 3 Democrat to Republican split. In the General Assembly, Democrats will maintain their supermajorities in both the House and Senate. The Senate will keep the same partisan makeup following the election, with incumbent Democrat Patrick Joyce winning the 40th Senate District race which was considered the chamber’s lone competitive seat this year. Four House races remain too close to call (highlighted in yellow below), with Democrats (1 seat) and Republicans (3 seats) each leading in the districts that they currently control. If this result holds, the House’s partisan makeup will also remain unchanged. House Democrats had originally hoped to pick up a few seats this year.
The statewide election ballot featured three non-binding advisory questions on civil penalties for election worker interference, increasing the state income tax on millionaires by 3% to fund property tax relief, and requiring health insurance to cover IVF. While these questions are non-binding, they could lead to future legislative action, or in the case of the income tax increase, a future constitutional amendment referendum. The election interference and IVF questions appear on track to receive overwhelming support from voters. The question on increasing the state income tax on millionaires currently has 60.3% support with 96% of the vote reporting, barely above the 60% threshold required to pass as a future constitutional amendment.
The Illinois State Board of Elections projects statewide voter turnout was around 68%, down from the record-breaking 73% turnout in the 2020 presidential election.