Voters in southern Illinois went to the polls to cast their votes for the presidential candidate of their choice. Although Illinois is a blue state, the southern counties went predominantly Republican after the polls closed on Nov. 5.

As of Wednesday morning, the majority of the votes were Republican with 68.8% of votes being for former President Donald Trump. Democratic votes came to 29.9% of total votes in the county for Vice President Kamala Harris and independent votes came to 1.3%. Jackson County ended with the majority of votes — 50.9% — going to the Democratic candidate and 47.7% going to the Republican candidate. 

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“Basically, we used to be a Democratic Party stronghold,” said John Jackson, visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. “Jackson County, certainly the Metro East area, Alexander County, really all of the counties that border on Jackson, especially Perry and especially Franklin and … usually Union. So, anyway, we were a Democratic stronghold,”  Jackson said. 

Hardin County ended with the majority for Trump with 80.4% and 18.5% for Harris. Massac County ended with a majority for the Republican Party, 74.0%, and 25.2% for Harris. 

“We elected Paul Simon. We elected, before that, Kenny Gray. And now it’s just totally flipped over,” Jackson said, naming two former Democratic representatives from southern Illinois. “As you know, (Republican) Mike Bost is not being heavily challenged and hasn’t been any time lately and is undoubtedly going to win big. And so the only thing I can say is, we changed from blue to red just like the South did, except we lagged the South by about 10 or 15 years,” Jackson said.

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Gallatin County ended with the majority of votes for Trump with 76.1% and 22.1% for Harris. Saline County had the most votes for Trump at 73.9% and Harris with 24.8%. Following a similar pace, Pope County had 79.6% votes for the Republican candidate and 19.5% for the Democrat. 

“I’ve been watching CNN, and they have a good staff, and they have all those visuals. And right now, what stands out is how the predictions are really coming true. It’s really too early to tell,” Jackson said at about 9 p.m. Tuesday. 

Perry County ended with a majority of votes for Trump with 75.5% and 22.9% for Harris. Randolph County ended with the majority for the Republican candidate 74.1% and 24.2% for the Democrat. 

Pulaski County had a majority of 66.6% for Trump while 32.3% voted for Harris. Union County also ended with a majority Republican vote in the presidential race of 71.0% and 27.7% Democratic. Johnson County ended with the majority being Republican as well, with 78.6% for Trump 20.3% for Harris. Alexander County ended the election with 59.1% for Trump and 39.8% for Harris.

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