Quinn was the 41st Illinois Governor. Quinn, formerly the lieutenant governor, ascended to the governorship on January 29, 2009, after the Illinois State Senate impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Quinn won election to a full term on November 2, 2010, which he began serving on January 10, 2011. He lost his bid for re-election in 2014. Quinn's term ended January 12, 2015, and he was succeeded by Republican Bruce Rauner.

Quinn was elected Illinois Lieutenant Governor in November 2002. After winning the Democratic primary in March of that year, he ran together with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rod Blagojevich in the general election. In March 2006, Quinn again secured the Democratic nomination, this time running unopposed. He and Blagojevich won re-election to their respective offices on November 7, 2006.

Prior to 2014, candidates for Illinois Governor and Lieutenant Governor ran separately in the primary election and were then joined together as a ticket in the general election. The rule changed, effective 2014, so that candidates for governor and lieutenant governor would run together in both the primary and general elections.

After serving one term as Illinois State Treasurer, Quinn ran for the office of Illinois Secretary of State in 1994, losing in the general election to the incumbent (and future Governor) George H. Ryan.

State of the State address

In January 2014, Quinn gave his State of the State address, outlining his agenda for the year. It included a building program for Illinois, new early childhood education initiatives, and a higher minimum wage.

Pension reform

During the July 2013 legislative session, Quinn announced that Illinois state lawmakers would not be receiving another paycheck until the legislature found a fix to the debt from the public employee pension plan. At that time, the state's debt from the pension plan had reached $100 billion because of "high borrowing costs, low credit ratings, and money being squeezed from social services." Quinn used his line-item veto power on a budget bill to eliminate lawmakers' pay for August 1 from the budget. Quinn's veto cut $13.8 million from the budget by eliminating salaries and stipends for state lawmakers. Quinn also voluntarily suspended his own pay until a deal could be reached.

On July 30, Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D) and President of the Senate John Cullerton (D) responded by filing a lawsuit against the governor, arguing the denial of pay was unconstitutional as it undermined the separation of powers. They sought an injunction that would force the state comptroller to issue paychecks with interest. On September 26, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil Cohen ruled that Quinn had to reinstate lawmakers' pay immediately. The judge declared Quinn's act of withholding paychecks as unconstitutional.

Firearms

According to Quinn's spokeswoman Brooke Anderson, in 2013, the governor said that restrictions on semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines should be passed.

Tax money taken from charities

On June 26, 2011, the News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, IL) reported that Quinn's Office of Management and Budget took $1.18 million from charitable donations made on Illinois tax returns to help pay the state's bills during the fiscal year 2011. The money came from 11 tax checkoff funds, financed by the contributions of Illinois taxpayers who can check off a box on their tax returns to automatically donate to one of several charities. A government spokesperson claimed the state was borrowing the money temporarily and would repay it within several months, but some of the affected charities complained the funds were being misused. Tracy Smith, executive director of Feeding Illinois, which runs a network of food banks, claimed the organization had yet to receive any tax checkoff money from the past two years of tax returns.

Job creation ranking

A June 2013 analysis by The Business Journals ranked 45 governors based on the annual private sector growth rate in all 50 states using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quinn was ranked number 30. The five governors omitted from the analysis all assumed office in 2013.