The 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 2, 2004. Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald decided to retire after one term in office. Democratic state senator and future president Barack Obama won the open seat over Alan Keyes, who was a late replacement for the original Republican nominee, investment banker Jack Ryan, who withdrew following a sex scandal. Obama's landslide victory, along with his well-received keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention during the race, launched him into national prominence and set up his 2008 election to the presidency.
Primary elections were held on March 16. The open race, which was a first for this seat since 1980, drew a large and wealthy field of candidates. In total, at least 15 candidates, including seven millionaires, ran in the primary elections and spent a record sum of over $60 million, triggering the first application of the millionaires' amendment to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. In the Democratic primary, Obama came from behind in the polls to defeat a large field of opponents, including state comptroller Daniel Hynes and financier Blair Hull, with a surprisingly large majority of the vote. Ryan won the Republican nomination over a large field of Republicans, including dairy farmer Jim Oberweis, state senator Steve Rauschenberger, and businessman Andrew McKenna.
Obama was the early favorite over Ryan in general election polling, but the race was overshadowed by Chicago Tribune reporting on Ryan's child custody lawsuit against his ex-wife Jeri Ryan, which included allegations that Ryan had pressured his then-wife to perform sexual acts in public. Ryan withdrew from the race on July 29, leaving Obama without a Republican opponent. Having apparently won the seat by midsummer, Obama instead focused on his keynote address in support of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and supporting other Democratic candidates in Illinois and throughout the country, further enhancing his rising political profile. Six weeks after Ryan's withdrawal, the Illinois Republican Party chose Keyes, a resident of Maryland with a history of landslide losses, as their replacement nominee. Keyes ran an advocacy campaign focused on social issues, and Obama maintained a strong lead in polling through Election Day. Overall, Obama outspent Keyes by over $12 million, among the largest margins in United States Senate history in both absolute and relative terms.
Obama won the election with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for any U.S. Senate candidate in Illinois history and significantly larger than Kerry's 55 percent in the concurrent presidential election. Obama carried 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several rural and suburban counties where the Democratic Party had traditionally performed poorly. This was the first United States Senate election in history in which both major party candidates were African American. According to Obama's 2020 memoir A Promised Land, he promised his wife Michelle that if he lost the race, he would retire from politics.
Background The primaries and general elections coincided with those for federal offices (president and House), as well as those for state offices.
For the primary elections, turnout was 26.69%, with 1,904,800 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 68.56%, with 5,141,520 votes cast.
Republican primary
Candidates John L. Borling, retired U.S. Air Force major general Norm Hill, Army veteran Chirinjeev Kathuria, healthcare and technology businessman Andrew McKenna, businessman and son of Andrew J. McKenna Jim Oberweis, owner of Oberweis Dairy and investment manager Steve Rauschenberger, state senator from Elgin Jack Ryan, investment banker Jonathan C. Wright, former state representative from Lincoln
Declined
Jim Edgar, former governor of Illinois Peter G. Fitzgerald, incumbent senator since 1999 (announced retirement April 15, 2003)
In this campaign, Chirinjeev Kathuria became the first Indian American and the first Sikh to run for United States Senate.
Campaign The Republican primary began in earnest on April 15, 2003, when one-term incumbent Peter G. Fitzgerald announced his retirement. Fitzgerald had developed a reputation as a maverick and a political moderate over his time in office, frequently clashing with fellow Republicans such as Governor George Ryan and United States House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Despite commissioning polling that showed him handily defeating all potential primary challengers and all potential Democratic opponents, Fitzgerald believed his poor relationship with Republican leadership would have forced him to self-finance his re-election, something he did not want to do. His retirement was a blow to Republican senate leadership, which had backed Fitzgerald's re-election out of a belief that he was best placed to hold the seat. At the time of his announcement, Fitzgerald had at least six Democratic opponents and at least three Republicans were threatening to challenge him in the primary.
After Fitzgerald's retirement and Edgar's decision, investment banker Jack Ryan was an early favorite for the party's nomination. Ryan was a proponent of broad tax reductions and tort reform, an effort to limit payout in medical malpractice lawsuits. He was also a proponent of school choice and supported vouchers for private school students. However, he was dogged throughout the campaign by his high-profile divorce from actress Jeri Ryan; the Chicago Tribune and local American Broadcasting Company affiliate WLS-TV sought repeatedly to unseal his divorce records during the primary. On March 3, shortly before the primary, Ryan's opponents urged him to release the records; both Ryan and his wife agreed to unseal their divorce records but preserve the court seal on their child custody dispute, claiming that the records could be harmful to their son if released.Fornek, Scott; Herrmann, Andrew. “Senate rivals urge Ryan to unseal divorce records”, Chicago Sun-Times (March 4, 2004).
Ryan's leading opponent in the polls was dairy farmer Jim Oberweis, who had run for Senate in 2002 and finished second in the Republican primary. Oberweis's 2004 campaign was notable for a television commercial where he flew in a helicopter over Soldier Field and claimed enough illegal immigrants entered the United States per week to fill the stadium's 61,500 seats. Oberweis was also fined $21,000 by the Federal Election Commission for a commercial for his dairy that ran during the campaign. The FEC ruled that the commercial wrongly benefited his campaign and constituted a corporate contribution on behalf of the dairy, thus violating campaign law.cbs2chicago.com - Oberweis Fined For Funding Campaign With Dairy Ad
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error JackRyan JimOberweis SteveRauschenberger AndrewMcKenna JonathanWright JohnBorling NormHill ChirinjeevKathuria Other UndecidedChicago TribuneMarch 3–6, 2004580 (LV)± 4.0%32%11%8%10%1%2%<1%<1%–35%Rasmussen ReportsMarch 3, 2004– (LV)–44%18%4%10%––––6%18%Chicago TribuneFebruary 11–17, 2004– (LV)–30%12%4%8%–––––43%Chicago TribuneJanuary 6–11, 2004503 (LV)± 4.5%12%16%5%5%–––––57%Chicago TribuneOctober 15–20, 2003450 (LV)± 5.0%20%11%4%3%––1%–4%58%
Debate + 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois Republican primary debate Date Host Moderator Link Republican Republican Republican Republican Republican RepublicanKey: Participant Absent Not invited Invited Withdrawn John L. Borling Chirinjeev Kathuria Andrew McKenna Jim Oberweis Steve Rauschenberger Jack Ryan1 Jan. 29, 2004 City Club of Chicago Paul Green YouTube
Endorsements
Federal officials John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona
Organizations Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
Executive officials Samuel K. Skinner, former White House chief of staff and former United States secretary of transportation
Federal officials Ray LaHood, U.S. representative from IL-18
State officials Greg Baise, businessman and former Illinois secretary of transportation Tyrone C. Fahner, former attorney general of Illinois
Individuals Pat Ryan, businessman
Organizations Illinois Right to Life
Federal officials Henry Hyde, U.S. representative from IL-06
Individuals Tom Roeser, newspaper columnist and radio broadcaster
Newspapers & publications Chicago Tribune Daily Herald
Executive officials William Bennett, former United States secretary of education Jack Kemp, former U.S. secretary of housing and urban development
Newspapers & publications Chicago Sun-Times
State officials Bill Mitchell, Illinois state representative from the 87th district Art Tenhouse, Illinois state representative from the 96th district
Results
Democratic primary
Candidates Declared Gery Chico, former president of the Chicago Board of Education Blair Hull, financial technology executive Daniel Hynes, state comptroller Estella Johnson Hunt (write-in) Barack Obama, state senator from Hyde Park, Chicago and candidate for Illinois's 1st congressional district in 2000 Maria Pappas, Cook County treasurer Nancy Skinner, radio personality Joyce Washington, health care executive
Withdrew Matt O'Shea, mayor of Metamora (endorsed Chico)
Declined
Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. senator (199399)
Campaign
Early speculation on the Democratic side, prior to Fitzgerald's withdrawal, centered on Fitzgerald's predecessor, Carol Moseley Braun. However, she declined to seek the nomination on January 17, 2003.Barack Obama, a member of the Illinois Senate since 1997 who had unsuccessfully challenged U.S. representative Bobby Rush in the 2000 Democratic primary, had already launched a campaign fundraising committee in July 2002, and two months later had David Axelrod lined up to do his campaign media. Obama formally announced his candidacy on January 21, 2003, four days after Moseley Braun's announcement.
As the Democratic primary field firmed up by November 2003, Roll Call cited Obama, Illinois comptroller Daniel Hynes and multimillionaire securities trader Blair Hull as frontrunners. Obama was considered charismatic, and his status as the only prominent black candidate in the race and strength with "lakefront liberals" were expected to give him a solid political base. Hynes was expected to have strong backing from labor unions and the party establishment broadly, as well as name recognition from being elected statewide. Hull was considered a contender given his promise to spend $20 million on his bid. Of the other candidates, Roll Call cited Gery Chico for his strong fundraising and Maria Pappas for her name recognition, but neither were considered likely victors.
Obama touted his legislative experience and early public opposition to the Iraq War to distinguish himself from his Democratic primary rivals. Although Hynes won the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, Obama won the support of three of the state's largest and most active member unions: the AFSCME, the SEIU, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Obama had the endorsements of four sitting members of the United States House of Representatives (Jesse Jackson Jr., Danny Davis, Lane Evans, and Jan Schakowsky); Blair Hull (Bobby Rush and Luis Gutiérrez) and Dan Hynes (Jerry Costello and Bill Lipinski) each had two. Rahm Emanuel remained neutral.
In the final three weeks of the campaign, Obama surged into the lead after he finally began advertising on Chicago television, which was expanded to downstate Illinois during the last six days of the campaign. The ads included strong endorsements by the state's five largest newspapers—the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Herald, Rockford Register Star, and Journal Star—and a testimonial by Sheila Simon, daughter of the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon, who had planned to endorse and campaign for Obama before his unexpected death in December 2003.
Polling