2014 Illinois gubernatorial election

The 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Illinois, concurrently with the election to Illinois's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Prior to this cycle, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor were nominated separately, and the primary winners ran on the same ticket in the general election. In 2011, the law was changed to allow candidates for governor to pick their own running mates. Incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon did not run for reelection, instead running unsuccessfully for comptroller. She was replaced as Quinn's running mate by Paul Vallas, a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Rauner chose Wheaton City councilwoman Evelyn Sanguinetti as his running mate and Grimm chose Alex Cummings.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Quinn ran for re-election to a second full term in office. Quinn, then the lieutenant governor, assumed the office of governor on January 29, 2009, upon the impeachment and removal of Rod Blagojevich. He narrowly won a full term in 2010. Primary elections were held on March 18, 2014. Quinn won the Democratic primary, while the Republicans chose businessman Bruce Rauner and the Libertarians nominated political activist Chad Grimm.

Rauner defeated Quinn in the general election with 50.3% of the vote to Quinn's 46.4%, winning every county in the state except for Cook County, home to the city of Chicago and 40% of the state's residents. Quinn was the only incumbent Democratic governor to lose a general election in 2014 and remained the last one to do so until Nevada's Steve Sisolak in 2022.

As of 2024, this alongside the concurrent comptroller election is the only time since 2010 that Republicans won a statewide election in Illinois. It is also the last time a Republican has been elected governor of Illinois. This is the most recent and the last Illinois gubernatorial election in which the winner won a majority of Illinois's counties.

Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for federal (House and Senate) and those for other state offices. The election was part of the 2014 Illinois elections.

Turnout
For the primary election, turnout was 16.88%, with 1,267,028 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 48.48%, with 3,627,690 votes cast.

Declared

 * Tio Hardiman, former director of CeaseFire
 * Running mate: Brunell Donald, attorney, author and motivational speaker.
 * Pat Quinn, incumbent Governor of Illinois
 * Running mate: Paul Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools and candidate for governor in 2002

Withdrew

 * William M. Daley, former White House Chief of Staff and former United States Secretary of Commerce

Declined

 * John Atkinson, businessman
 * Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff
 * Alexi Giannoulias, former Illinois Treasurer and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010
 * David H. Hoffman, member of the Illinois Reform Commission, former Chicago Inspector General and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010
 * Daniel Hynes, former Illinois Comptroller, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and candidate for Governor in 2010
 * Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General (running for re-election)
 * Toni Preckwinkle, President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
 * Kwame Raoul, state senator

Republican primary
By early summer 2013, the field seeking the Republican nomination was set at four candidates. Two of them, State Senators Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard, had sought the nomination in 2010, with Brady edging out Dillard by 193 votes, but ultimately losing to Pat Quinn by less than 1 percent. Dan Rutherford, who was elected state treasurer in 2010 after serving as a State Representative and State Senator, formally entered the race on June 2.

Rauner had announced the formation of an exploratory committee in March and made his entry into the Republican field official on June 5. Despite longstanding rumors that Rauner was committed to spending $50 million on his campaign, he denied in an interview ever specifying a dollar figure.

By the date of the primary, Rauner had broken the previous record for self-funding in an Illinois gubernatorial race by putting more than $6 million of his own money into his campaign. In total, he raised more than $14 million before the primary election.

On March 18, 2014, Rauner won the Republican primary, collecting 40% of the vote, compared to 37% for State Senator Kirk Dillard.

Declared

 * Bill Brady, State Senator, candidate for Governor in 2006 and nominee for Governor in 2010
 * Running mate: Maria Rodriguez, former Village President of Long Grove
 * Kirk Dillard, State Senator and candidate for Governor in 2010
 * Running mate: Jil Tracy, state representative
 * Bruce Rauner, businessman and former Chairman of GTCR
 * Running mate: Evelyn Sanguinetti, Wheaton City Councilwoman
 * Dan Rutherford, Illinois Treasurer
 * Running mate: Steve Kim, Attorney and nominee for Illinois Attorney General in 2010

Removed

 * Peter Edward Jones (removed from the ballot)
 * Running mate: None

Declined

 * Adam Andrzejewski, businessman and candidate for Governor in 2010
 * Dan Duffy, state senator
 * Adam Kinzinger, U.S. Representative
 * Ray LaHood, former United States Secretary of Transportation and former U.S. Representative
 * Matt Murphy, state senator
 * Dan Proft, talk radio personality and candidate for Governor in 2010
 * Christine Radogno, Minority Leader of the Illinois Senate
 * Aaron Schock, U.S. Representative
 * Joe Walsh, conservative radio talk show host and former U.S. Representative

Polling

 * * Internal poll for Bill Brady campaign

Declared

 * Chad Grimm (Libertarian), political activist, candidate for the State House in 2012 and candidate for the Peoria City Council in 2013
 * Running mate: Alex Cummings

Removed from ballot

 * Mike Oberline (Constitution)
 * Running mate: Don Stone
 * Scott Summers (Green)
 * Running mate: Bob Pritchett, Jr.

Declined

 * Sam McCann (Independent), Republican State Senator

Debates

 * Complete video of debate, October 9, 2014 - C-SPAN
 * Complete video of debate, October 20, 2014 - C-SPAN

Polling

 * With Quinn


 * With Daley


 * With Emanuel


 * With Hynes


 * With Madigan


 * * Internal Poll for Dick Durbin campaign
 * ^ Internal Poll for Pat Quinn campaign

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Alexander (largest city: Cairo)
 * Jackson (largest city: Carbondale)
 * St. Clair (largest city: Belleville)