- Lead
- 48,408
- Total
- 78,012
- vs nation
- D+63.5
Illinois 20th State Senate District
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Modeled candidate-vote estimate on current district boundaries
- Lead
- 61,407
- Total
- 89,061
- vs nation
- D+64.5
- Lead
- 56,104
- Total
- 78,750
- vs nation
- D+69.2
- Lead
- 50,507
- Total
- 71,089
- vs nation
- D+67.2
- Lead
- 56,501
- Total
- 76,556
- vs nation
- D+66.5
- Lead
- 46,275
- Total
- 70,411
- vs nation
- D+68.2
- Lead
- 41,008
- Total
- 64,727
- vs nation
- D+62.8
- Lead
- 37,635
- Total
- 60,251
- vs nation
- D+53.9
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+62.1MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 217,0942024 5-year
- Population density
- 20,289 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 10.7 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $91,3112024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 36.2%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 50.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+73.8 in 2008MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+19.3 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- State Senate District 2, IL · twin score 97.8
presidential history
Party record book
Illinois 20th State Senate District · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
1892–2024 (partial returns from 1876) · 38 presidential cycles · 38 with a vote-share denominator · 34 with a national benchmark
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Barack Obama2008
86.0%
65,840 votes · D+73.8 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2012 · 84.4%
Republican
Warren G. Harding1920
53.2%
12,527 votes · R+19.3 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Calvin Coolidge, 1924 · 44.4%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Joe Biden2020
74,051votes
83.1% of the vote · D+68.9 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2008 · 65,840 votes
Republican
Dwight D. Eisenhower1956
25,373votes
39.1% of the vote · D+21.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Richard Nixon, 1972 · 23,962 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
Hillary Clinton2016
+69.2pts D vs U.S.
Place D+71.2 · U.S. D+2.1 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · John Kerry, 2004 · +68.2 pts
Republican
William H. Taft1912
−2.2pts R vs U.S.
Place D+21.8 · U.S. D+19.5 · a third-party candidate carried the Place · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Warren G. Harding, 1920 · −6.9 pts
Current officeholders
State legislative officeholder from OpenStates nightly current-legislator data.
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
Each row is a county-allocated estimate of U.S. House votes for this district — county returns apportioned onto its boundary, not precinct-counted. “Vote lead” is the estimated local lead here, not necessarily the winner of the full contest.
| Year | Vote lead | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | D | 73.1%60,892 | 26.9%22,370 | 83,262 |
Illinois Senate District 20 covers a largely rural swath of downstate Illinois, where the 2024 presidential contest finished at R+9.1 — a margin reflecting the broader realignment of small-town and agricultural communities away from their traditional voting patterns.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 73.8 points in 2008 and a Republican high of 19.3 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 6.9 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 62.1 points.
A population of 217,094, a 36% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $91,311 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of State Senate District 2 and State Senate District 39.
The state-senate districts whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
District research tools
Open the source-auditable district brief for electoral baseline, electorate, current-cycle coverage, geography, official dates, and methodology. Open campaign intelligence report → · Browse all comparisons →
Illinois 20th State Senate District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/sld-upper/17020/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.