Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama record the race of drivers they stopped. In February 2002, Obama introduced SB 1789, which would have adopted instant-runoff voting (IRV) for congressional and state primary elections in Illinois and authorized IRV for local elections, although it did not ultimately pass. He resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama Barack Obama served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he was elected to the United States Senate. During this part of his career, Obama continued teaching constitutional law part time at the
Barack Obama election, Obama won with 70% of the vote. Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. "CQ Weekly" characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes from 2005 to 2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency. A photo has emerged of then-Senator Obama standing with controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan during a 2005