40 Facts About Jim Edgar

James Robert Edgar was born on July 22,1946 and is an American politician who served as the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999.

Jim Edgar was born in Vinita, Oklahoma and raised in Charleston, a city in Central Illinois.

Jim Edgar would go on to win a full term in 1982 and was reelected by a significant margin in 1986 in a race complicated by a LaRouchian candidate on the Democratic ticket.

Jim Edgar ran successfully for Governor of Illinois in the 1990 election, narrowly defeating incumbent Attorney General Neil Hartigan.

Jim Edgar declined to run for a third term in 1998 and subsequently retired from public office.

Jim Edgar was born on July 22nd, 1946 in Vinita, Oklahoma to Cecil and Betty Jim Edgar.

Jim Edgar graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1968.

Jim Edgar developed an interest in politics at a young age.

In 1974, Jim Edgar ran unsuccessfully in the Republican nomination for state representative from the 53rd district, coming in third place.

Jim Edgar ran for the same seat again two years later in 1976 and won.

Jim Edgar won re-election twice in 1982 and 1986 with his 1986 re-election against the Illinois Solidarity Party nominee Jane N Spirgel and the Lyndon LaRouche-backed Democratic nominee Janice A Hart being the largest statewide margin of victory in Illinois history until the election of Barack Obama to the US Senate in 2004.

Jim Edgar voiced support for a national 21-year-old legal drinking age and was appointed to US President Ronald Reagan's Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving in 1982.

Jim Edgar pushed forward an effort to construct a new Illinois State Library as its own building and his efforts to support the State Library during his tenure earned Jim Edgar the nickname of "The Reader" from State Library employees.

Jim Edgar campaigned as a moderate Democrat focusing on fiscal responsibility.

Jim Edgar, meanwhile, campaigned on extending the state's temporary income tax increase with a promise for no new taxes during his term as governor.

Jim Edgar focused on his character as a consistent leader while attacking Hartigan as being an indecisive policy maker who changed his opinions on issues when it became politically convenient, a perspective that had hurt Hartigan in the past.

At one rally towards the end of the campaign, Jim Edgar held up a waffle and joked that it would become the state seal if Hartigan were elected.

Jim Edgar performed better than Republicans traditionally did amongst Chicago's Latino voters.

On January 14th, 1991, Jim Edgar took the oath of office as Governor of Illinois and gave a speech focused on fiscal responsibility.

Jim Edgar would have two more significant budget fights in 1992 and 1993 and the state's financial troubles would dominate much of Jim Edgar's first term.

In between budget fights, Jim Edgar sought to reform the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which had been put under court supervision following an ACLU lawsuit three years prior to Jim Edgar taking office.

Jim Edgar would mobilize over 7,000 members of the Illinois National Guard to flood duty over the course of the disaster and organize hundreds of inmates from the Illinois Department of Corrections to help with sandbagging and levee-reinforcement.

Jim Edgar would help with sandbagging efforts himself throughout the summer.

In 1994, Jim Edgar easily defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent state comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch, to win re-election in a landslide.

Jim Edgar won 101 of the state's 102 counties, including the historically Democratic stronghold of Cook County.

Jim Edgar was never accused of wrongdoing, but he testified twice, once in court and once by videotape, becoming the first sitting Illinois governor to take the witness stand in a criminal case in 75 years.

Jim Edgar was encouraged by Republican officials to run for US Senate that year, which he declined to do.

Jim Edgar supported Secretary of State George Ryan to succeed him.

In 1999, Jim Edgar was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Jim Edgar was named the honorary chairman of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration at Eureka College, President Reagan's alma mater.

In September 2011, Edgar helped dedicate the Mark R Shenkman Reagan Research Center housed in the Eureka College library.

In July 2016, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Illinois Financing Partners, a firm for which Jim Edgar served as chairman, won approval by the state to advance money to state vendors who had been waiting for payments by the state.

Jim Edgar was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln by the Governor of Illinois in 1999 in the area of Government.

Jim Edgar is a resident fellow at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In February 2008, Jim Edgar endorsed Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona for President of the United States.

When Donald Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016, Jim Edgar publicly announced that he would not be voting for him.

Jim Edgar continued to stir up division in the country, a president should be trying to bring people together.

Jim Edgar pushed for a pension bill to save $15 billion back in 1994.

In 1994, Jim Edgar underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery, and was hospitalized in 1998 for chest pains.

In February 2025, Jim Edgar announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.