After LaRouche movement disciples won the Democratic primaries for Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State, Adlai Stevenson III created the Solidarity Party primarily to run Democratic candidates against them in the general election. He himself dropped off of the Democratic ticket for Governor, which he had won the primary for, and ran instead as the Solidarity Party candidate for Governor. The two Lyndon LaRouche-affiliated candidates, Mark J. Fairchild for Lieutenant Governor and Janice Hart for Secretary of State, had not seen their affiliations with LaRouche well-publicized until after they won their upset primary defeats over Stevenson-backed candidates George Sangmeister and Aurelia Pucinski.[2]
Illinois law required any unestablished party to run a full slate in order to obtain ballot access,[3] thus, Stevenson ran candidates in all races.
Turnout
Turnout in the primary was 26.23%, with 1,602,156 ballots cast. 1,014,908 Democratic and 570,661 Republican primary ballots were cast.[1]
Turnout in the general election was 55.34%, with 3,332,450 ballots cast.[4]
Incumbent GovernorJames R. Thompson won reelection to a fourth term, defeating Adlai Stevenson III. This was a rematch of the previous 1982 gubernatorial election, which saw Stevenson as a Democratic nominee.
Stevenson, who had won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, withdrew from the Democratic ticket after Mark Fairchild, a follower of Lyndon LaRouche, won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Stevenson refused to run on a ticket with supporters of LaRouche's ideology. Stevenson instead created the Illinois Solidarity Party and ran as its nominee.
Hartigan had originally declared his intention to forgo seeking reelection, and instead run for governor, but he ultimately reversed course and sought reelection after Adlai Stevenson III entered the race for governor.[5][6]
Republican Village President of Arlington Heights James T. Ryan won the Republican primary, running unopposed.[1][7] Ryan stepped-down as nominee after allegations arose that he had committed domestic abuse against both his wife and ex-wife, which arose soon after he received his party's nomination.[7][8]
There had been originally been several other candidates running for the Republican nomination in the primary, but all withdrew soon after Democratic incumbent Hartigan announced that he would seek reelection.[5]
If he had been elected, Ryan would have been the first Republican sitting mayor elected to statewide office in Illinois since Edward C. Akin was elected Attorney General in 1898.[5]
Incumbent Secretary of StateJim Edgar, a Republican first appointed in 1981 and subsequently elected to a full term in 1982, was reelected to a second full term.
The Illinois Solidarity Party ran Jane N. Spirgel in the election. Spirgel was an outgoing member of the DuPage County Board (on which she was the sole remaining Democratic member and had first been elected in 1974).[9]
Incumbent TreasurerJames Donnewald, a Democrat, lost the Democratic primary to former Treasurer Jerome Cosentino. Consentino won the general election, earning him a second non-consecutive term.
J. Michael Houston, the mayor of Springfield, won the Republican nomination.[11] Houston was seeking to become the first Republican Illinois Treasurer in over twenty years.[11] He was also seeking to be the first Republican sitting mayor elected to statewide office in Illinois since Edward C. Akin was elected Illinois Attorney General in 1898.[5]
The election saw the reelection incumbent Democrat Nina T. Shepherd to a third term, as well as the election of new Democratic trustees Judith Ann Calder and Charles Wolff.[4][13]
First-term incumbent Republicans Galey Day and Dean E. Madden lost reelection.[4][13]
Trustees of the University of Illinois election[4][13]
Multiple judicial positions were up for election in 1986.[4]
Ballot measures
Illinois voters voted on two ballot measures in 1986,[14] both of them legislatively referred constitutional amendments. In order to be approved, measures required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the amendment or 50% support among all ballots cast in the elections.[14]
Bail Amendment
Voters approved the Bail Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which amended Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution of Illinois to further expand the population that may be denied bail.[14][15]
Exempt Veterans' Organizations from Property Taxes Amendment
Exempt Veterans' Organizations from Property Taxes Amendment, a legislatively refereed constitutional amendment which would amend Article IX, Section 6 of the Constitution of Illinois to exempt property used exclusively by veterans' organizations from property taxes, failed to meet either threshold amend the constitution.[14][16]
Exempt Veterans' Organizations from Property Taxes Amendment[4][14][16]
Option
Votes
% of votes on measure
% of all ballots cast
Yes
860,609
54.19
25.90
No
727,737
45.82
21.90
Total votes
1,588,346
100
47.80
Voter turnout
26.46%
Local elections
Local elections were held. These included county elections, such as the Cook County elections.