Pledged nationalconvention delegates Type Type CD1 8 CD10 5 CD2 7 CD11 5 CD3 6 CD12 5 CD4 5 CD13 5 CD5 7 CD14 5 CD6 6 CD15 3 CD7 8 CD16 4 CD8 5 CD17 5 CD9 8 CD18 4 20 At-large 34Total pledged delegates 155 The 2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary took place on March 17, 2020, the third primary Tuesday of the month, as one of three states voting on the same day in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, while the contest in Ohio had been postponed for roughly a month. The Illinois primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 182 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 155 were pledged delegates allocated based on the results of the primary.

Immediately after the polls closed at 7:00 pm Central Time, the Associated Press declared former vice president Joe Biden the winner of the Illinois primary. Biden was victorious in all but one county, Champaign County, winning 59% of the vote and 95 delegates, while Senator Bernie Sanders received the rest of 36% and 60 delegates. Together with his victories on the same day in Florida and Arizona, Biden greatly expanded the gap in delegates between him and Sanders. Voter turnout was significantly down from 2016, due to the closure of polling places as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Procedure Illinois was one of three states which held primaries on March 17, 2020, alongside Arizona and Florida, while only one day before Ohio had been the first state to postpone its primary due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancel in-person voting, accepting ballots until April 28 instead.

Voting took place throughout the state from 6:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. In the open primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level to be considered viable. The 155 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally based on the results of the primary. Of these, between three and eight were allocated to each of the state's 18 congressional districts and another 20 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 34 at-large delegates. As a March primary on Stage I of the primary timetable Illinois received no bonus delegates, to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on a March date.

National convention district-level delegates were listed on the ballot and chosen during the primary. The national convention delegation meeting was subsequently held on April 27, 2020, to vote on the 34 at-large and 20 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention through a quorum of district delegates. The delegation also included 27 unpledged PLEO delegates: 10 members of the Democratic National Committee, 15 members of Congress (both senators and 13 representatives), the governor J. B. Pritzker, and former president Barack Obama.

Candidates The following candidates qualified for the ballot in Illinois:

Running

Joe Biden Tulsi Gabbard Bernie Sanders

Withdrawn

Michael Bennet Michael Bloomberg Cory Booker Pete Buttigieg John Delaney Deval Patrick Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren Andrew Yang

Polling Polling aggregation Source of poll aggregation Dateupdated Datespolled JoeBiden BernieSanders TulsiGabbard Un-decided270toWin Mar 17, 2020 Mar 7–16, 2020 58.6% 30.2% 2.0% 9.2%RealClear Politics Mar 17, 2020 Mar 10–12, 2020 60.0% 30.5% – 9.5%FiveThirtyEight Mar 17, 2020 until Mar 16, 2020 61.5% 26.6% 1.5% 10.4%Average60.0%29.1%1.8%9.1%

Tabulation of individual polls of the 2020 Illinois Democratic primary Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin JoeBiden MichaelBloomberg PeteButtigieg KamalaHarris AmyKlobuchar BernieSanders ElizabethWarren Other UndecidedSwayableMar 16, 20201,861 (LV)± 3.0%63% – – – –28% –10% –Emerson College/NexstarMar 11–12, 2020567 (LV)± 4.1%57% – – – –36% –2%6%Gravis MarketingMar 10–12, 2020549 (LV)± 4.2%63% – – – –25% – –12%ROI RocketMar 6–12, 2020960 (LV)± 3.1%57% – – – –34% – – –Victory ResearchMar 7–9, 20201,200 (LV)± 2.83%55% – – – –36% –1%8%Ogden & Fry/Northwest Side GOP ClubMar 8, 2020457(LV)± 4.58%64% – – – – 32% – 4% –55% – – – – 26% – 2% 16% Mar 1–5, 2020 Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the raceVictory ResearchVictory Research Feb 17–19, 2020 1,200(LV) ± 2.83% 20.3% 14.5% 11.4% – 6.3%25.6% 6.6% 4.4% 10.9%Southern Illinois UniversityFeb 10–17, 2020475 (LV)± 4.5%14%17%13% –8%22%6%2%17% Dec 3, 2019 Harris withdraws from the raceVictory ResearchNov 27 – Dec 1, 20191,500 (RV)±2.83%23.2%3.6%15.9%3.2%2.6%15.0%17.4%12.3%6.9%Victory Research Jul 26–29, 2019 1,200 ± 2.83%36.1% – 9.3% 8.6% 1.7% 15.2% 12.8% 9.2% 7.3%

Results

2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary Candidate Votes % Delegates Joe Biden986,661 58.9495 Bernie Sanders 605,701 36.18 60 Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) 25,500 1.52 rowspan=10 Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) 24,413 1.46Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) 9,729 0.58 Tulsi Gabbard 9,642 0.58 Andrew Yang (withdrawn) 4,021 0.24 Cory Booker (withdrawn) 2,684 0.16 Tom Steyer (withdrawn) 1,684 0.10 Deval Patrick (withdrawn) 1,567 0.09 Michael Bennet (withdrawn) 1,346 0.08 John Delaney (withdrawn) 1,185 0.07 Total 1,674,133 100% 155

Analysis Joe Biden won Illinois in the Democratic primary securing 91 delegates, while Bernie Sanders won the other 60. Biden won the state by a wide margin, with Biden winning many of the blue collar workers who previously voted for Sanders back in 2016. However, Sanders was able to maintain his lead with young and extremely liberal voters, which made up most of his base. This contributed to Sanders being able to carry Champaign county, home of the University of Illinois.

The Illinois Democratic primary furthered the gap of delegates between Biden and Sanders. The Illinois primary, along with other Rust-Belt primaries such as Michigan, signaled a weakening Sanders coalition.

See also 2020 Illinois Republican presidential primary 2020 United States presidential election in Illinois 2020 Illinois elections Illinois Fair Tax Nov. 2020 ballot referendum

Notes

References

External links The Green Papers delegate allocation summary Illinois Democratic Party delegate selection plan