2022 Illinois gubernatorial election facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
2022 Illinois gubernatorial election

← 2018 November 8, 2022 2026 →
Turnout	50.96% 5.19 pp
Nominee J. B. Pritzker Darren Bailey Party Democrat Republican Running mate Juliana Stratton Stephanie Trussell Popular vote 2,253,748 1,739,095 Percentage 54.9% 42.4%
County results Congressional district results Township results Pritzker:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Bailey:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:       No Vote:
Governor before election J. B. Pritzker Democrat Elected Governor J. B. Pritzker Democrat

The 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election was an important vote held on November 8, 2022. People in Illinois chose their next governor. This election happened at the same time as other elections across Illinois.

In Illinois, candidates for governor run together with a candidate for lieutenant governor. The current governor, J. B. Pritzker, and his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, are both Democrats. They were seeking to be re-elected for a second term. Their main opponents were Republican State Senator Darren Bailey and his running mate, Stephanie Trussell.

On election day, Governor Pritzker won his re-election. He received 54.9% of all the votes. This was a strong win for him and his party. It was the best percentage of votes for a Democratic governor in Illinois since 1960.

Pritzker's victory was largely due to strong support in the Chicago metropolitan area. This area has most of the state's population. He won by a lot in Cook County, where Chicago is located. He also won almost all the nearby "collar counties."

Darren Bailey, the Republican candidate, did better than the previous Republican governor in 2018. This was partly because there wasn't another strong conservative candidate running. Bailey was able to win back some counties that Pritzker had won in 2018. However, Pritzker managed to win McLean County, which had not voted for a Democrat in a governor's election since 1948.

Governor Pritzker became the first Illinois governor since Rod Blagojevich in 2006 to serve a full term and then be re-elected. If he finishes his entire second term, he will be the first Democratic governor in Illinois history to serve two full four-year terms.

Election Results

This section shows the final numbers from the 2022 Illinois governor election.

• J. B. Pritzker (Democrat, current governor) and Juliana Stratton (Democrat, current lieutenant governor)
  • Votes: 2,253,748
  • Percentage: 54.91%

• Darren Bailey (Republican) and Stephanie Trussell (Republican)
  • Votes: 1,739,095
  • Percentage: 42.37%

• Scott Schluter (Libertarian) and John Phillips (Libertarian)
  • Votes: 111,712
  • Percentage: 2.72%

• Other write-in candidates received a very small number of votes.

In total, 4,104,636 votes were counted in this election.

Counties That Changed Their Vote

In this election, some counties voted differently than they did in 2018.

Counties That Switched from Democratic to Republican

These counties voted for the Democratic candidate in 2018 but for the Republican candidate in 2022:

• Alexander (Largest city: Cairo)
• Fulton (Largest city: Canton)
• Jackson (Largest city: Carbondale)
• Knox (Largest city: Galesburg)
• Winnebago (Largest city: Rockford)

Counties That Switched from Republican to Democratic

Only one county voted for the Republican candidate in 2018 but for the Democratic candidate in 2022:

• McLean (Largest city: Bloomington)

How Congressional Districts Voted

Illinois is divided into 17 areas called congressional districts. Each district elects a representative to the U.S. Congress. In the governor's election, Pritzker won in 14 of these 17 districts. Bailey won in the remaining 3 districts.

For example:

• In the 7th District, Pritzker received 85% of the votes, while Bailey received 13%.
• In the 12th District, Pritzker received 25% of the votes, while Bailey received 72%.