Collar counties

Politics

While it is not its exclusive use, the term is often employed in political discussions. Like many other suburban areas in the United States, the collar counties have somewhat different political leanings from the core city. Chicago has long been a Democratic stronghold, while the collar counties historically tilted Republican. In recent elections, however, the collar counties have voted for Democrats, but with lower margins than Cook County.

For most of the 20th century, the collar counties were solidly Republican, voting for the Republican nominee in nearly every presidential election and often by large margins. The counties continued to support the Republicans in the 1990s and 2000s, but were much closer than previously. During this period, the collar counties were routinely cited as being the key to any statewide election, as Cook County tends to vote for Democrats by large margins and downstate Illinois tends to vote for Republicans by large margins. However, that conventional wisdom was challenged in the 2010 gubernatorial election, as Democrat Pat Quinn won election while winning only Cook County and three counties in Southern Illinois. All five collar counties went Republican, so the key to that gubernatorial election was winning Cook County by a wide enough margin to overwhelm the rest of the state.

Barack Obama used the term in his speech before the Democratic National Convention in 2004.

The collar counties have become significantly more Democratic since the 2010s, resulting in Illinois as a whole becoming more reliable Democratic and no longer competitive for Republicans. As Democrats began organizing in the area to appeal to suburban voters while Republicans turned towards conservativism, along with demographic changes, much of the politics of the counties shifted considerably. Barack Obama won all the collar counties in 2008, and four of them (all but McHenry) have voted for the Democratic nominee in every presidential election since. By the 2020 presidential election, all but one county backed Joe Biden, with Donald Trump carrying McHenry County by a narrow 2.5 points. Similarly, the counties now favor Democrats in statewide and legislative elections.

References

References

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4. Mariner, Richard D.. (2005). "Collar Counties". Chicago History Museum and the Newberry Library.
5. "Combined statistical area population and estimated components of change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016 (CSA-EST2016-alldata)". U.S. Census.
6. Mount, Charles. (May 30, 1989). "Collar Counties Cutting Court Backlogs". Chicago Tribune.
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