Shilts for Governor

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In the 1986 Illinois Gubernatorial election, Libertarian Party candidate Gary L. Shilts competed for the executive office of Illinois. Shilts managed to pull in about 15,000 votes giving him the support of .5% of the electorate. Largely beholden to the Democratic Party, few Illinois residents subscribe to Libertarian Party ideology, as evidenced with all Illinois Libertarian elected officials finding support at only the local level. In 2002, Shilts competed again for elected office but instead ran for Attorney General. He garnered almost 88,000 votes, much higher than his previous bid for office but it was not enough, instead only accounting for 2.5% of the general electorate.