Illinois Senate elections of Barack Obama

In August 1994, Republican Cook County State's Attorney Jack O'Malley announced the indictment of first-term U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-2) of South Shore.

[6] The following week newspapers reported that Palmer-supporter Barack Obama of Hyde Park—who had been announced as chairman of the $49.2 million Chicago Annenberg Challenge on June 22 and whose memoir Dreams from My Father would be published on July 18—would announce he was running and would be a front-runner for Palmer's state Senate seat; Obama began fundraising in July, created a campaign committee on August 7 and filed its statement of organization on September 5.

[8] On September 11, 1995, Illinois Governor Jim Edgar set November 28 as the date for a special primary election to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mel Reynolds following his August 1995 conviction.

"[10] At 6 p.m. on September 19, 1995—the first day of the thirteen-week period in which candidates could circulate nominating petitions to earn a place on the ballot for the March 1996 primary—34-year-old Barack Obama announced his candidacy for Palmer's state Senate seat to a standing-room-only audience of 200 supporters at the Ramada Inn Lakeshore at 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park-Kenwood, Chicago in the same room where thirteen years earlier Harold Washington had announced his successful run for Mayor of Chicago.

[11] The October 25, 1995 Hyde Park Herald reported that two other first-time candidates, Gha-is Askia and Marc Ewell, had announced the previous week that they were also running for the state Senate seat Palmer was giving up.

[12] An October 29, 1995 Sunday Chicago Sun-Times article about circulating nominating petitions—legally required to demonstrate a candidate has enough support from registered voters to be on the ballot with signatures that can withstand challenges by rival candidates—quoted Obama's campaign manager Carol Anne Harwell on the importance of volunteers, precinct captains, and campaign aides doing the thankless but essential job of circulating nominating petitions.

[15] By late October 1995—after five of the ten Democrats who had filed to run in the special primary election for Reynolds' vacated congressional seat had been eliminated following challenges to their nominating petitions—polls showed Alice Palmer had dropped to a distant third behind Jesse Jackson Jr. and state Sen. Emil Jones Jr., which caused Palmer's fundraising to dry up in the final month of the campaign after having raised over $200,000 during the preceding twelve months.

[17] On November 28, 1995, after finishing a distant third in the 2nd Congressional District special primary election behind the winner, 30-year-old Jackson, and 60-year-old Jones, and dismayed at receiving only 2,917 votes in Chicago and 3,426 votes in suburban Cook County, a disappointed 56-year-old Alice Palmer told a small gathering at a Harvey hotel that she wouldn't seek re-election to the state Senate and was undecided about entering the March 1996 primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

[27] [28] [29] The January 10, 1996 Hyde Park Herald reported that after conducting checks the previous week, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners' initial findings indicated that all four would-be opponents of Obama, including incumbent state Sen. Palmer, may not have the required number of valid nominating petition signatures.

[29][33] Lynch and Ewell, in separate federal lawsuits, unsuccessfully sued the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners seeking to reverse its decision to remove their names from the ballot.

[29][34] In the March 19, 1996 primary election, Obama, running unopposed on the ballot, received 16,279 votes in winning the Democratic nomination for state senator for the 13th District.

[48][49] In the March 19, 2002 primary election, Obama, running unopposed on the ballot, received 30,938 votes in winning the Democratic nomination for state senator for the new 13th District.

[50] In the November 5, 2002 general election, Democratic Party candidate Obama, running unopposed on the ballot, was re-elected to a four-year term as state senator for the new 13th District with 48,717 votes.