Honestly, if you just glanced at the 2024 map for Illinois, you might think nothing changed. It’s still a deep blue island in the middle of a red Midwest, right? Well, sort of. While Kamala Harris did walk away with the state's 19 electoral votes, the actual Illinois election results 2024 by county tell a much messier, much more interesting story than the top-line numbers suggest.
The blue wall in Illinois didn't crumble, but it definitely got some hairline fractures.
We're looking at a state where the "red shift" wasn't just a talking point—it was a mathematical reality. Harris won the state by about 11 percentage points. Sounds like a lot, until you realize Joe Biden won it by 17 points just four years ago. That 6-point swing is huge. It wasn't just one thing, either. It was a mix of lower turnout in the city, surprising holds in the suburbs, and a rural "red wave" that just kept getting redder.
The Cook County Elephant in the Room
Cook County is usually the engine that drives Democratic victories in Illinois. It has to be. With over 40% of the state's population, if Chicago and the near suburbs don't show up in massive numbers, the state starts looking a lot more like its neighbors, Indiana or Missouri.
In 2024, the engine sputtered.
Harris pulled about 70.4% of the vote in Cook County. Again, that sounds dominant. But when you look at the raw numbers, she received roughly 300,000 fewer votes in Cook than Biden did in 2020. That is a massive drop-off. You've got to wonder if it was lack of enthusiasm, a shift in demographic priorities, or just a general "vibes" issue. Meanwhile, Donald Trump actually slightly improved his raw vote totals in Chicago and the surrounding county. He didn't win it—not even close—but he ate into the margin just enough to make things interesting.
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What Happened in the Collar Counties?
The "Collar Counties"—DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, and McHenry—are where Illinois elections are truly decided. They used to be Republican strongholds, then they became "purple," and lately, they've been pretty reliably blue.
In 2024, they mostly stayed blue, but the margins were tight.
- DuPage County: Harris took this with 55.9% compared to Trump’s 42.5%. It’s still a Democratic win, but the gap is narrowing compared to the heights of the 2020 "suburban revolt."
- Will County: This was a nail-biter. Harris won it with 50.1% to Trump’s 48.5%. That is a razor-thin 2-point margin. If you’re a Democrat, that should probably keep you up at night.
- McHenry County: This remains the outlier of the group, going for Trump with 51.9%. It’s the "reddest" of the collars and it stayed that way.
The shift in places like Will and Kane (where Harris won 54% to 44.6%) suggests that the "suburban mom" or "moderate professional" voters who fled the GOP in 2018 and 2020 might be wandering back, or at least they aren't as scared of the Republican brand as they used to be.
Downstate and the Separation Referendums
If you drive south of I-80, the world changes. The Illinois election results 2024 by county in central and southern Illinois were almost exclusively red. We're talking about places like Effingham County, where Trump took 79.3% of the vote, or Fayette County at 81.7%.
It’s a different world down there.
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There's a real feeling of "us vs. them" that has moved beyond just political disagreement. In fact, voters in seven more counties this year—including Calhoun, Clinton, and Greene—voted on "separation referendums." These are non-binding questions essentially asking if the county should look into forming a new state away from Cook County. They almost always pass with huge margins (usually around 70-75%). It’s not going to happen legally—it's incredibly hard to split a state—but it’s a loud, clear signal that downstate Illinois feels ignored by the Springfield-Chicago power axis.
Surprising Pockets of Blue
It wasn't all red downstate, though. You had the "university islands."
- Champaign County: Home to the U of I, it went 61.3% for Harris.
- McLean County: Bloomington-Normal went 51.6% for Harris. Interestingly, Trump became the first Republican to win the White House without winning McLean or Kendall counties.
- Jackson County: Home to Southern Illinois University, it stayed blue with 51%.
These spots act as liberal anchors in a sea of rural conservatism, but they weren't enough to stop the overall statewide shift to the right.
Turnout Was the Real Story
You can't talk about these results without talking about the fact that people just... stayed home.
Statewide turnout was around 70.42%. That’s lower than 2020 (72.92%). While that sounds like a small drop, in a state with 8 million registered voters, a 2.5% drop represents hundreds of thousands of missing voices. Most of that "missing" vote lived in Democratic strongholds.
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Interestingly, early in-person voting actually hit a record high (34.65%), but mail-in ballots dropped significantly from the pandemic era. It seems like the way people vote has permanently changed, even if the total number of people voting is dipping.
Down-Ballot Dramas and Ballot Measures
While the top of the ticket was getting all the headlines, some local races and questions were actually quite telling.
- IVF Protection: Illinois voters overwhelmingly supported a non-binding advisory question about whether insurance should cover in vitro fertilization (IVF). It passed with 72.6% of the vote. Even in counties that went heavily for Trump, people generally liked this idea. It shows a weird disconnect between "identity politics" and "policy preference."
- Congressional Holds: Despite the shift at the top, the Democratic supermajority in the statehouse remained intact. In the 17th District, Eric Sorensen held on with 54.4% against Joe McGraw. This district is a great "microcosm" because it includes both urban Rockford/Rock Island and very rural areas.
- Cook County State's Attorney: Eileen O'Neill Burke won with 65.9%, keeping that seat in Democratic hands, though the primary was actually the harder fight for her.
What This Means for 2026 and Beyond
Basically, Illinois is still a blue state, but it’s no longer a "safe" blue state for anyone who isn't paying attention. The 2024 results showed that the Democratic coalition is stretching thin. You've got urban voters who are staying home and suburban voters who are flirting with the other side again.
If the GOP can find a way to appeal to those suburban "collar" voters without alienating the rural base, the 2026 gubernatorial race might be closer than people think. On the flip side, Democrats need to figure out why 300,000 people in Cook County decided that sitting on the couch was better than going to the polls.
Practical Steps for Following Local Trends
If you're trying to make sense of your specific area, don't just look at the state map. Check the Illinois State Board of Elections website for precinct-level data. Sometimes a county looks red, but your specific town or township is shifting blue—or vice-versa.
- Look at the "Swing": Compare your county's 2024 margin to 2020. Is the gap growing or shrinking?
- Watch the Turnout: If your local candidate lost, was it because people changed their minds or because your side didn't show up?
- Follow the Money: Look at local school board or state rep races. That's where the real "grassroots" shifts start.
The 2024 election was a wake-up call for the Land of Lincoln. The map stayed the same color, but the shades are definitely changing.