In 2008, most of the nation experienced a blue wave as Barack Obama was elected to his first term, scoring the largest Democratic win of this century thus far. Part of Obama's landslide was a dominating win, to put it mildly, in his home state of Illinois, where he defeated John McCain (R) by over 25%, becoming the first candidate since Warren Harding in 1920, and the first Democrat since Andrew Jackson in 1832, to win >60% of the vote. Obama not only did well in the Democratic stronghold of Cook County, home to Chicago, but also swept all five of Chicago's suburban collar counties, becoming the first Democrat since Franklin Pierce in 1852 to do so. However, Chicago was not the only place where Obama did well, as even if Cook County were excluded from Illinois' results, Obama still would've won the state, with him being the only Democrat in the 21st century to accomplish such a feat. In addition to victory in downstate cities such as Peoria, Springfield, and East St. Louis, Obama managed to win several rural, historically Republican counties. For instance, Obama managed to flip Carroll County, which had voted Republican continuously since the first GOP nominee, John C. Fremont, in 1856, the longest Republican-voting streak of any such county*. Indeed, as of 2025 Obama is the only Democrat to have carried the county since 1856. Yet, while Obama was able to flip 31 counties in total, he was unable to turn back the clock in Southern Illinois, a historically competitive region which voted blue as recently as 1998 but became solid red in the early 2000s, even voting for Republican Alan Keyes in 2004 despite his landslide loss statewide. As such, Obama became the first Democrat to win without carrying Christian County. Ultimately, however, Obama's lackluster performance in Southern Illinois was more than made up for in the rest of the state. As of the 2024 election, Obama's performance is the best of any Democratic presidential candidate since the rise of the Republican Party.

White was the best performing Democrat during the 2018 elections.

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At the time of the election, this was the reddest state House district represented by a Democrat. As of 2025, this is the last time Democrats won HD-116.

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Andrade was the only Democratic incumbent to lose renomation.

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