ILLINOIS 20 Electoral Votes 
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Clinton  |  Trump  ||  General Election Visits 

Hillary Clinton grew up in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, and although Illinois was solidly in the blue column, the tiny Clinton team kept busy.  Headquarters on Michigan Ave. was bustling with volunteers and there were field operations around the state.  One major task was organizing supporters to travel to neighboring states of Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.  Per directives from Brooklyn about 80-percent of those efforts focused on Iowa.  Second, for supporters who could not travel, the campaign sought to funnel them into local Democratic campaigns in partnership with the Coordinated Campaign; Tammy Duckworth's U.S. Senate race was a major focus. Finally, Clinton had various friends, family and associates in the state and the campaign team engaged them. 

Democratic principal and surrogate visits concentrated on fundraising in Chicago, but on July 13 Clinton did travel to Springfield to deliver a speech at the site of Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech.

On the Republican side, the Trump campaign had a very low profile.  In the Fall he made one visit for a fundraiser.  Trump's candidacy proved a big headache for Sen. Mark Kirk in his re-election bid.  During the primary period, Kirk had said that he would back Trump if he became the nominee, but on June 7, following Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage, Kiirk said he would not support Trump "regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party."