Back

2016 United States Senate election in Illinois

2016 United States Senate election in Illinois

← 2010 November 8, 2016 2022 →
Turnout68.39%
 
Nominee Tammy Duckworth Mark Kirk
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 3,012,940 2,184,693
Percentage 54.86% 39.78%

Duckworth:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Tie:      40–50%      50%
Kirk:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
No vote:            

U.S. senator before election

Mark Kirk
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Tammy Duckworth
Democratic

The 2016 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Illinois, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, 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 the election, incumbent senator Mark Kirk (R) was considered to be the most vulnerable senator among those seeking re-election in 2016[1][2] due to Illinois's heavy Democratic partisan balance; news networks and analysts expected a Democratic pickup.

Party primary elections were held on March 15, 2016. Kirk lost re-election to a second full term[3] to Tammy Duckworth, the U.S. representative from Illinois's 8th congressional district and a decorated combat veteran of the Iraq War. Duckworth became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois since fellow Democrat Carol Moseley Braun in 1992. Despite his loss, Kirk outperformed Trump in the concurrent presidential election by around 2 percent.

  1. ^ Plotkin, Mark (May 20, 2016). "Mark Kirk is your most vulnerable senator of 2016". The Hill. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  2. ^ "The most endangered Republican in the country". POLITICO. October 27, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  3. ^ "Mark Kirk: 'No Frickin' Way Am I Retiring'". Roll Call. November 14, 2014. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.