Over 20 years ago, more than 126,000 Lake County residents went to the polls for the 2002 primary election — much like they did earlier this month — deciding which Republican and Democratic candidates would face each other in the upcoming November general election.
According to Lake County Clerk data, it was unusually high voter participation for a midterm — 37.4% compared to about 18.7% in 2026.
Looking at the ballots cast for several countywide primary races that year reveals a Republican lean; many thousands more residents voted in the Republican primary than in the Democratic. There wasn’t even a Democratic candidate for the Lake County Treasurer.
And when November of 2002 came around, it was a Republican sweep for all the countywide positions up for election — Clerk, Treasurer and Sheriff. Two years prior, Republicans had also taken the Circuit Court Clerk, Coroner and State’s Attorney.
But in the 24 years since, Lake County’s political landscape has shifted, and in many ways the parties have found their positions reversed; every countywide position today is held by Democrats, and they have a supermajority on the county board.
This most recent midterm primary was a continuation of a multi-decade trend, as Republican primary voter numbers have plummeted to their lowest since at least 1996 — the earliest election result data the Lake County Clerk has publicly available — while the number of Democratic primary voters has generally risen.
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Less than 20,000 residents voted in the largest race on the Republican primary ballot, for governor, and about 17,500 voted for each countywide race with a Republican candidate. In comparison, 63,000 residents voted in the Democratic primary for governor, with only slightly less voting in the countywide primaries.
Going back to 2002, nearly 70,000 voters cast a ballot in the Republican primary for governor, compared to about 47,000 Democrats. Similar ratios were seen that year for countywide primary races.
But by March 2018, the tides had clearly shifted; although Republican midterm primary voters only saw slight decreases from 2014, Democrats surged from just 10,500 votes in the 2014 governor primary to nearly 60,000, a rise that was seen down ballot as well.
And when the November general election came, Democrats swept Lake County, taking County Clerk, Treasurer and Sheriff. By the general election in 2020, Democrats also took Circuit Court Clerk, Coroner and State’s Attorney, all of which they continue to hold.
In regard to national politics, years ago, Lake County went twice, narrowly, to Republican George W. Bush. But 2004 was the last year a Republican presidential candidate took Lake County, and the last five presidential races have seen the county lean relatively blue.
Since then, based both on the number of ballots cast and voting percentages, Republican presidential candidates have regularly underperformed Lake County Republicans running for countywide positions on the same ballot.
By some measures, President Donald J. Trump has performed poorly in Lake County; he’s never received more than 39% of votes in all three of his election bids, the lowest of Republican presidential candidates in the last 26 years.
In 2024, he received roughly 120,000 votes, about 17,000 fewer votes than cast for the Republican candidate for State’s Attorney that year.
November stakes
In Lake County, the positions of Clerk, Treasurer, and Sheriff — currently held by Anthony Vega, Holly Kim and John Idleburg, respectively — are all coming up for election, as well as county board positions for Districts 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19.
At least five longtime Lake County Board members are stepping down: Linda Pedersen, Ann Maine, Jessica Vealitzek, Angelo Kyle and Michael Danforth, bringing with them many collective decades of experience. And if Board Chair Sandy Hart wins her race for County Treasurer in November, her seat will be filled by an appointee, bringing the total to six.
The board’s Democrat supermajority, currently 14 to just five Republicans, could become even more pronounced come November. The outgoing Pedersen, Maine and Danforth are all Republicans, and every seat up for election has a Democrat candidate.
Meanwhile, the only Republicans currently named for county board positions are John Muellner, for Pedersen’s seat, and Salvi for Danforth’s. There is also no Republican challenger for Clerk.
That leaves eleven major county positions up for election with no Republican candidate named yet, although appointees are likely to be decided sometime this spring, according to Lake County Republican Party officials.