 By the late 1990s, though, Illinois had started to become more Democratic in presidential elections, partly because the Republican's social conservatism in other states had started to alienated many Northeastern and some Midwestern Republican voters.Illinois rapidly became more Democratic in the second half of the 1990s and early 2000s.In contrast, most GOP candidates in Illinois gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races in recent years have been almost indistinguishable from Democrats on both social and fiscal issues, with the notable exception of Peter Fitzgerald who won the Senate race in 1998.