1986 Illinois elections

After LaRouche movement disciples won the Democratic primaries for Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State, Adlai Stevenson III created the Solidarity Party primarily to run Democratic candidates against them in the general election. He himself dropped off of the Democratic ticket for Governor, which he had won the primary for, and ran instead as the Solidarity Party candidate for Governor. The two Lyndon LaRouche-affiliated candidates, Mark J. Fairchild for Lieutenant Governor and Janice Hart for Secretary of State, had not seen their affiliations with LaRouche well-publicized until after they won their upset primary defeats over Stevenson-backed candidates George Sangmeister and Aurelia Pucinski.[2]

Illinois law required any unestablished party to run a full slate in order to obtain ballot access,[3] thus, Stevenson ran candidates in all races.

Turnout in the primary was 26.23%, with 1,602,156 ballots cast. 1,014,908 Democratic and 570,661 Republican primary ballots were cast.[1]

Turnout in the general election was 55.34%, with 3,332,450 ballots cast.[4]

Illinois had a straight-ticket voting option in 1986.[4]

Incumbent Democratic Senator Alan Dixon was reelected.

All Illinois seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1986.

1986 Illinois gubernatorial election

November 4, 1986
Turnout	52.37%
Nominee James R. Thompson Adlai Stevenson III No candidate Party Republican Illinois Solidarity Democratic Running mate George Ryan Mike Howlett Mark Fairchild Popular vote 1,655,849 1,256,626 208,830 Percentage 52.7% 40.0% 6.6%
County Results: Thompson:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Stevenson:      40-50%      50-60%
Governor before election James R. Thompson Republican Elected Governor James R. Thompson Republican

Incumbent Governor James R. Thompson won reelection to a fourth term, defeating Adlai Stevenson III. This was a rematch of the previous 1982 gubernatorial election, which saw Stevenson as a Democratic nominee.

Stevenson, who had won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, withdrew from the Democratic ticket after Mark Fairchild, a follower of Lyndon LaRouche, won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Stevenson refused to run on a ticket with supporters of LaRouche's ideology. Stevenson instead created the Illinois Solidarity Party and ran as its nominee.

1986 Illinois Attorney General election

November 4, 1986
Turnout	51.95%[4]
Nominee Neil Hartigan Bernard Carey Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,925,012 1,129,193 Percentage 61.71% 36.20%
Attorney General before election Neil Hartigan Democratic Elected Attorney General Neil Hartigan Democratic

Incumbent Attorney General Neil Hartigan, a Democrat, was reelected to a second term.

Incumbent Neil Hartigan defeated Chicago alderman Martin J. Oberman in the Democratic primary.

Hartigan had originally declared his intention to forgo seeking reelection, and instead run for governor, but he ultimately reversed course and sought reelection after Adlai Stevenson III entered the race for governor.[5][6]

Republican Village President of Arlington Heights James T. Ryan won the Republican primary, running unopposed.[1][7] Ryan stepped-down as nominee after allegations arose that he had committed domestic abuse against both his wife and ex-wife, which arose soon after he received his party's nomination.[7][8]

There had been originally been several other candidates running for the Republican nomination in the primary, but all withdrew soon after Democratic incumbent Hartigan announced that he would seek reelection.[5]

If he had been elected, Ryan would have been the first Republican sitting mayor elected to statewide office in Illinois since Edward C. Akin was elected Attorney General in 1898.[5]

After Ryan withdrew as the Republican nominee, he was replaced on the ballot by Bernard Carey, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners who had also formerly served as Cook County State's Attorney from 1972 through 1980.[6] Ryan's withdrawal had taken place five months before the general election.[6]

1986 Illinois Secretary of State election

November 4, 1986
Turnout	51.97[4]
Nominee Jim Edgar Jane N. Spirgel Janice A. Hart Party Republican Illinois Solidarity Democratic Popular vote 2,095,489 521,410 478,361 Percentage 67.16% 16.71% 15.33%
Secretary of State before election Jim Edgar Republican Elected Secretary of State Jim Edgar Republican

Incumbent Secretary of State Jim Edgar, a Republican first appointed in 1981 and subsequently elected to a full term in 1982, was reelected to a second full term.

Little known candidate Janice Hart won an upset victory over Aurelia Pucinski (who had the backing of Adlai Stevenson III and others).[2] While, not well-reported until after the primary, Hart was a member of the LaRouche movement.[2]

The Illinois Solidarity Party ran Jane N. Spirgel in the election. Spirgel was an outgoing member of the DuPage County Board (on which she was the sole remaining Democratic member and had first been elected in 1974).[9]

1986 Illinois State Comptroller election

November 4, 1986
Turnout	51.07%[4]
Nominee Roland Burris Adeline Geo-Karis Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,880,413 1,074,923 Percentage 61.33% 35.06%
State Comptroller before election Roland Burris Democratic Elected State Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch Democratic

Incumbent Comptroller Roland Burris, a Democrat, was reelected to a third term.

State Senator Adeline Jay Geo-Karis won the Republican primary unopposed.

1986 Illinois State Treasurer election

November 4, 1986
Turnout	51.08%[4]
Nominee Jerome Cosentino J. Michael Houston Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,724,979 1,252,796 Percentage 56.25% 40.85%
Treasurer before election James Donnewald Democratic Elected Treasurer Jerome Cosentino Democratic

Incumbent Treasurer James Donnewald, a Democrat, lost the Democratic primary to former Treasurer Jerome Cosentino. Consentino won the general election, earning him a second non-consecutive term.

Incumbent James Donnewald lost renomination to former Treasurer Jerome Cosentino. Donnewald had been the party organization's favored candidate.[10][11] Other candidates running included Cook County Board of Appeals member Pat Quinn and LaRouche movement member Robert D. Hart (who had the formal backing of Lyndon LaRouche's NDPC).[12]

J. Michael Houston, the mayor of Springfield, won the Republican nomination.[11] Houston was seeking to become the first Republican Illinois Treasurer in over twenty years.[11] He was also seeking to be the first Republican sitting mayor elected to statewide office in Illinois since Edward C. Akin was elected Illinois Attorney General in 1898.[5]

Some of the seats of the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1986. Democrats retained control of the chamber.

All of the seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1986. Democrats retained control of the chamber.

An election was held for three of nine seats for Trustees of University of Illinois system for six year terms.

The election saw the reelection incumbent Democrat Nina T. Shepherd to a third term, as well as the election of new Democratic trustees Judith Ann Calder and Charles Wolff.[4][13]

First-term incumbent Republicans Galey Day and Dean E. Madden lost reelection.[4][13]

Multiple judicial positions were up for election in 1986.[4]

Illinois voters voted on two ballot measures in 1986,[14] both of them legislatively referred constitutional amendments. In order to be approved, measures required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the amendment or 50% support among all ballots cast in the elections.[14]

Voters approved the Bail Amendment, a legislatively refereed constitutional amendment which amended Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution of Illinois to further expand the population that may be denied bail.[14][15]

Exempt Veterans' Organizations from Property Taxes Amendment, a legislatively refereed constitutional amendment which would amend Article IX, Section 6 of the Constitution of Illinois to exempt property used exclusively by veterans' organizations from property taxes, failed to meet either threshold amend the constitution.[14][16]