2024 Illinois Elections

Politicians, judges and billionaires, as well as private citizens and business groups, are helping to fund the 2024 campaigns of U.S. Rep. Mike Bost and former state senator Darren Bailey.

The GOP primary for Illinois’ 12th Congressional District — the first true test from Bost’s party in his nine years in Washington — will likely decide the race because of the area’s deeply conservative beliefs.

The winner of the Republican primary between Darren Bailey and U.S. Rep. Mike Bost will be highly favored in November because of the district’s GOP leaning.

The Republican primary in the state’s most conservative congressional district is between two candidates who were endorsed by former President Donald Trump in separate races two years ago.

The Illinois State Board of Elections voted 8-0 on Tuesday to dismiss an objection to his candidacy based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.

The hearing officer, a retired Republican judge, wrote a scathing assessment of Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, but said the courts ultimately should decide. The full elections board will consider the matter Tuesday.

Currently, eight states across the United States and Washington, D.C. operate elections almost entirely by mail.

The pledge, a vestige of the McCarthy Red Scare era, is not mandatory for candidates in Illinois. Despite that, it has been signed by candidates for decades — including Trump in 2016 and 2020.

A group of Illinois voters filed a joint objection to Trump’s candidacy, arguing that the former president should be disqualified under the Constitution's 14th Amendment. It prohibits anyone who took part in an insurrection against the United States from holding federal office.

A top Illinois election board official said the courts — not the election board — would determine if Trump’s ties to the insurrection disqualify him from being on the ballot.