 That's a sharp contrast to the 2006 midterm election, when winning
Democratic incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich earned majorities in more
than 30 counties.
Both Democratic candidates obtained a similar level of support.
Blagojevich earned 1,736,731 votes in 2006. As of Thursday, Quinn
had 1,721,812 votes, with absentee votes still being counted and the
tally yet to be finalized.
But Quinn faced much stiffer competition from his direct rival,
state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, and a political environment
that was more supportive of Republicans.
Brady, who conceded the race to Quinn on Thursday, had 1,702,399
votes and counting. Blagojevich's GOP rival, Judy Baar Topinka,
gained only 1,369,315 votes in 2006.
In a return to statewide politics, Topinka was elected as
comptroller on Tuesday.
Quinn won handily in Cook County, where he resides, with almost 65
percent of the vote against rival Brady and several other
candidates.
The incumbent governor also had narrow majorities in St. Clair
County in the Metro-East area near St. Louis and Alexander County in
the southwestern tip of the state.
Blagojevich had managed to win Cook County, nearby Will and Lake
counties, Winnebago and Boone Counties in northern Illinois, several
counties in the Quad-Cities area and many counties in southwestern
Illinois, stretching from St. Clair County in the Metro-East
southward into Alexander, Pulaski and Massac counties in southern
Illinois.
State Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, said he did not expect Brady to
win in Rock Island County and the Quad-Cities.
In 2006, Blagojevich easily carried Rock Island County by more than
9,000 votes over Topinka. But in 2010, Brady beat Quinn by more than
2,000 votes, an 11,000 vote swing.
Verschoore, who won re-election on Tuesday, attributes Brady's win
to local Republicans being more organized than in 2006.
"Usually it's a 2-to-1 ratio of Democrats (voting) [to]
Republicans (voting) and we didn't have that this year. Of course,
the Republicans got their people out, they got the vote out, and we
didn't get our people out," he said.
Southern Illinois University political science Professor Charles
Leonard said he too was surprised that Brady managed to win in
Jackson County, home of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
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Quinn's handpicked running mate, Sheila Simon, is a law professor at SIU, and voters there have helped elect Democratic state lawmakers in
recent years.
"But downstate, Illinois is a lot more conservative than Chicago and
the Cook County suburbs. So I'm surprised at the mostly unbroken sea
of red, but not particularly surprised that Brady won downstate," he
said.
At last count, Brady carried Jackson County by 23 votes out of more
than 15,500 votes cast.
After a dramatic Election Day and several days of waiting, Brady
conceded in his hometown of Bloomington on Friday afternoon.
Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady, no relation to the party's
gubernatorial candidate, acknowledged the headway Bill Brady made in
the election.
"I want to offer my congratulations to Bill Brady for running a
great campaign. Bill managed to turn virtually all of Illinois red,
gaining broad support across the entire state," Pat Brady said in a
statement.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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