We don’t yet know who the president will be on Jan. 20. But we know which candidate won McLean County that continues to shade purple after many years as a Republican stronghold.
Democrat Kamala Harris won McLean County [including Bloomington] with 50.9% of the vote. Harris defeated Republican Donald Trump by 3,906 votes, according to unofficial results with all precincts reporting late Tuesday. Harris also won Illinois as a whole.
Harris’ winning margin of 50.9% is the best showing for a Democrat in many cycles. Democrat Joe Biden won in 2020 [50.5%], as did Democrat Barack Obama [49.8%] in 2008.
Trump has now lost McLean County twice — in 2020 and 2024 — and won it once, in 2016.
Overall, voter turnout in McLean County was down slightly compared with 2020.
In all, 75.2% of registered voters in McLean County, including Bloomington, cast a ballot in the 2024 election. That’s down slightly from the 76.6% turnout in 2020, ending a streak of turnout increases in presidential-election years.
More and more people are early voting and voting by mail, too. In this year’s election, around 43,644 people voted early or by mail in McLean County — representing about 50% of all ballots cast.
