1,778,698 1,719,478 Start date November 2, 2010 | 48.0% 46.4% | |
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The 2010 United States Senate elections in Illinois took place on November 2, 2010. There were two ballot items for the same seat: a routine one, to fill the Class 3 seat beginning with the 112th United States Congress beginning on January 3, 2011, and a special item, to fill that seat for the final weeks of the 111th Congress, replacing the temporary appointment of Roland Burris to the vacancy created by Barack Obama's election to the presidency.
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The election 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: U.S. Representative Mark Kirk was nominated as the Republican nominee, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was nominated as the Democratic nominee, and journalist LeAlan Jones was nominated as the Green nominee. 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 replacement item would appear after the regular item on the ballot. Sitting senator Roland Burris would not appear on either ballot item.
As of 2016, this is the last Senate election in Illinois won by a Republican.
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 the Governor, Rod Blagojevich (D) on various corruption charges, including allegations he sought to sell the appointment to the U.S. Senate. On December 31, 2008, Blagojevich nevertheless appointed 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 re-election.
Candidates
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.
Candidates
Candidates
Campaign
A self-described "fiscal conservative and social moderate," Republican nominee Mark Kirk based his campaign on reform and compared the race to Republican Scott Brown's election to the Senate in February 2010. In addition, Kirk immediately criticized his Democratic opponent for his management of Bright Start, an Illinois 529 college savings program and his work at Broadway Bank. Immediately after the primary, the National Republican Senatorial Committee aired a web ad comparing Giannoulias to the fictional character Tony Soprano. Politifact has ranked Kirk's references to the mob as "Half True". Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown has campaigned for Kirk in Illinois. Kimberly Vertolli, Kirk's ex-wife, signed on as an advisor to Mark Kirk's campaign, but doesn't support his more conservative platform.
On February 4, 2010, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias revealed his campaign strategy, saying "come November, Congressman, your days as a Washington insider are over." On July 19, 2010, Giannoulias announced that he had raised $900,000 in the quarter that ended June 30, compared to $2.3 million raised by Kirk. The Giannoulias campaign also announced that President Obama was scheduled to attend an August 5 fundraiser for his candidate in Chicago.
Kirk and Giannoulias disagree mostly on fiscal and foreign policy. Kirk voted against Obama's Stimulus package and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As a Congressman, Kirk originally voted for Cap and trade but during the primary campaign announced that if elected a Senator he would vote against it. Giannoulias strongly supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Obama's stimulus. Kirk opposes the building of the Park 51 Islamic center near Ground Zero of New York City, while Giannoulias believes that "Americans must stand up for freedom of religion even when it's difficult."
Labno was added to the ballot by the Illinois State Board of Elections after gaining ballot access by means of citizen petition. He faced Republican Mark Kirk, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones in the general election in November 2010. He was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. He currently resides in Oak Brook, Illinois, a village in DuPage and Cook Counties. Labno is an electrical project construction manager. Labno is also a recruiter for Private Security Union Local 21. Labno is pro-life and supports 2nd Amendment rights, downsizing or cutting some Federal agencies and reducing taxes and government regulations. He also supports allowing citizens to opt out of Social Security. In August 2010, Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias declared Labno a legitimate challenge from the right for Mark Kirk. Labno responded on his Facebook fan page, saying "This is very true Alexi, and you should be afraid too.” Labno attended the September 18, 2010 Right Nation rally in Hoffman Estates, Illinois headlined by conservative media figure Glenn Beck. While greeting attendees Labno noted that Republican candidate Kirk did not attend. He has been contacting Tea Party grassroots organizations in Illinois to discuss the Senate race. On August 27 the Illinois Board of Elections approved the Libertarian Party's petition to include its candidates on the ballot.