President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump swept to easy victories Tuesday in Illinois’ presidential primaries, racking up additional national convention delegates on top of those collected from earlier state contests that assured them of formally winning nomination this summer.
In Illinois’ Democratic presidential primary, AP declared Biden the victor with no formal challenge. With the win, he was expected to collect the 147 elected and at-large nominating delegates who make up the bulk of state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19-22.
On the Republican side, Trump’s name appeared on the ballot along with a field of contenders who had dropped out of the contest weeks and months earlier. AP named Trump the winner, assuring him of at least 13 at-large nominating delegates, while voters in each of the state’s 17 congressional districts selected a total of 51 more delegates to go to the GOP national convention in Milwaukee from July 15-18.
Heading into Tuesday’s voting in Illinois along with Arizona, Florida, Kansas and Ohio, Trump had 1,273 delegates, with 1,215 needed to clinch the nomination. Biden had 2,107 delegates with 1,968 needed to secure renomination. Excluding Illinois, there were 256 Republican delegates and 456 Democratic delegates at stake in Tuesday’s voting.
The results nationally pitting Biden against Trump in November mark the first time that the country will see a back-to-back presidential matchup since 1956 when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower won re-election against two-time Democratic nominee Adlai E. Stevenson II, the former governor of Illinois who went on to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
With their nominations assured, neither Trump or Biden campaigned in the state. With Illinois a safely blue state in presidential elections, it is likely it will continue to be a flyover state for Trump, while Biden will be in Chicago to accept his renomination for president at the United Center in late summer.
Trump’s status on the state’s GOP primary ballot wasn’t assured until about two weeks ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states do not have the power to decide a candidate’s eligibility for the presidency under the “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Last month, Cook County Judge Tracie Porter ruled Trump off the ballot, saying he had engaged in insurrection for his role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol that was aimed at preventing the Electoral College vote count that made Biden president. The nation’s high court decision reversed that ruling.