Illinois Senate elections of Barack Obama election, Democratic Party candidate Obama was elected state senator for the 13th District with 48,592 votes (82.15%); Harold Washington Party candidate David Whitehead received 7,461 votes (12.61%); and Republican Party candidate Rosette Caldwell Peyton received 3,091 votes (5.22%). The citywide turnout of 63% was the record low for a presidential general election in Chicago and was down from 74.5% in 1992. The 1996 election was the last in Illinois to allow straight-ticket voting. On January 8, 1997, Obama was sworn in for a two-year term as state senator for the 13th District, which was then a T-shaped district that spanned
Second inauguration of Barack Obama States Capitol on January 21, Associate Justice Sotomayor administered the oath to Vice President Joe Biden, and then Chief Justice Roberts administered the Presidential oath to President Barack Obama minutes after Vice President Biden received his oath. At the public inaugural ceremony, Vice President Biden was sworn in using the Biden family Bible, while President Obama was sworn in using two Bibles owned by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. President Obama became the 17th U.S. president to be re-elected for a second term of office. After Barack Obama had recited the oath of office, where Obama had placed