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This paper was published in the Newsletter of the Illinois Political Science Association.

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U.S. Senate candidate Lynn Martin may have been right, though quite impolitic, when she accused southern Illinois voters of being "rednecks." She went on to lose, by a wide margin, in her 1990 bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Paul Simon. There is some evidence that Illinois voters may be "rednecks," especially Illinois' apparent tendency to vote for American-sounding names. Let me suggest two examples.

The first example is the infamous March 18, 1986 Democratic primary, in which two followers of Lyndon LaRouche won nomination for the state's second and third highest offices. LaRouche candidate Mark J. Fairchild defeated party regular George E. Sangmeister (then a state senator from Mokena) for lieutenant governor and LaRouche candidate Janice Hart defeated party regular Aurelia Pucinski, a Chicago Metropolitan Sanitary District Board member and daughter of a powerful Chicago city alderman and Democratic committeeman, for Secretary of State. Sangmeister, "who is widely considered an intelligent and competent legislator," was to be Adlai Stevenson's gubernatorial running mate. Although unknown downstate, Pucinski was heir to a well-known Chicago political name. The results were nothing less than a stunning upset, creating chaos within the state Democratic party. In one vote, the Democrats' hopes of retaking the state house were dashed. Paul Kirk, the Democratic National Chairman, was direct, declaring, "Good Lord, we have a problem here."

Analysts have offered a number of reasons for the outcome of the March primary. Almost all of them start with the complacency of the Democratic Party. The New York Times noted the indifference among the established politicians. The media received its share of the blame for failing to publicize the issues and quirks of the primary. "[T]he news media failed to grasp the weird ideology of the LaRouchies or warn the voters about their strength."

The LaRouchites were not passive in their campaigning, particularly in rural areas. They proved remarkably successful at winning spots on ballots and seats on local precinct committees. Amazingly, neither of the two LaRouche candidates reported spending more than several hundred dollars on their campaigns. One of the contributions to their success was that Fairchild and Hart got their names placed at the top of the ballot in many areas. They achieved this coveted position through entirely legal means, by actively participating in the political process.

The results may have been compounded by a protest vote, particularly in the Chicago area. Pucinski's father, Chicago alderman and former U. S. Rep. Roman C. Pucinski "has long been viewed among Chicago blacks as a symbol of white ethnic resistance to civil rights demands, and among downstate Democrats as a symbol of the Cook County Democratic machine."

Another explanation, frequently espoused, is that voters, particularly downstate, voted for the American-sounding names of Fairchild and Hart over the obviously foreign-sounding names of Sangmeister and Pucinski. "[N]o one had heard those foreign-sounding names, and from Chicago and its collar counties to Cairo in Little Egypt, people voted for white bread and American-sounding (i.e., WASP) names, knowing absolutely nothing about the candidates."

The voters did not see the LaRouchites as acceptable leaders. The sound drubbing of both "Democratic" tickets -- LaRouchite and Stevenson's alternative Solidarity Party -- by incumbent Republican Governor Jim Thompson, who had barely won reelection four years earlier, indicates that the people of Illinois were not fond of the LaRouche ticket. A New York Times/CBS poll taken days after the primary found only one percent of the public had a favorable opinion of LaRouche and his politics. Twenty percent had an unfavorable view, finding LaRouche extremist or radical.

The second example is the November 8, 1994 Illinois general election for the state's constitutional officers and General Assembly. The Republicans retained control of the state Senate, won control of the House of Representatives, and swept the state constitutional offices. However, the victory margins are revealing.

 
 

Candidate

Party

Percent of Vote

Percent Margin of Victory

 

Governor (and Lieutenant Governor)
 

Jim Edgar

Rep

64.12%

29.93%

 

Dawn Clark Netsch

Demo

34.9%

Attorney General
 

Jim Ryan

Rep

53.88%

9.60%

 

Albert Hofled

Demo

44.27%

Secretary of State
 

George Ryan

Rep

60.74%

22.72%

 

Pat Quinn

Demo

28.03%

 

Comptroller
 

Loleta Didrickson

Rep

55.35%

15.59%

 

Earlean Collins

Demo

40.76%

Treasurer
 

Judy Barr Topinka

Rep

50.64%

3.06%

 

Nancy Sheehan

Demo

47.58%

 

(percentages are not exact due to third party candidates and the effects of rounding)

Judy Barr Topinka, although successfully defeating her opponent, received the lowest percentage as well as the smallest number of votes of the Republican candidates for constitutional office. Her challenger, Nancy Sheehan, received the largest percentage as well as the largest number of votes of any Democratic candidate. Topinka's margin of victory, 3.06%, was the narrowest of any of the constitutional races. Gov. Jim Edgar, the Republican vote leader, out-polled fellow Republican Topinka by over 480,000 votes. Topinka was at least 100,000 votes behind the next lowest Republican victor, Loleta Didrickson, the candidate for Comptroller. Topinka's opponent, Sheehan, was the Democratic vote leader, surpassing the party's gubernatorial candidate, Dawn Clark Netsch, by more than 350,000 votes.

The effects of incumbency and gender might explain some of the 30% margin of Edger over Netsch for governor. Incumbent Secretary of State George Ryan defeated well-known challenger and former Comptroller Pat Quinn by nearly 23%. However, neither woman, Topinka nor Sheehan, were incumbents. In a race for an open seat, generally unknown Jim Ryan defeated Al Hofeld, known to state voters from his attempt to win nomination to the U.S. Senate in 1992, by nearly 10%. Likewise, in the race for Comptroller, which pitted woman against a woman, Loleta Didrickson defeated Earlean Collins by nearly 15%. Race might have been a factor with Collins, who is black.

In a race without the advantages of incumbency or the disadvantages of gender or race, Topinka's win can be credited to the Republican sweep of the constitutional offices. However, the narrowness of her election cannot be explained by incumbency, race, or gender. Partisan voting did not carry down the ballot. Topinka's foreign-sounding name matched against Sheehan's Irish-American name may explain the closeness of the race.

When asked to look over this article, a close family friend with over 40 years experience in Chicagoland politics wrote: "In the past those people who contemplated running for judgeship were advised to change their names so that they sounded Irish--this when the Irish were especially powerful in Chicago. So you could have an O'Gomez running for a judicial office!"