Jim Edgar, the two-term Republican governor who guided Illinois through much of the 1990s with a low-key yet intense persona and a meticulous focus on fiscal matters aimed at preparing the state for the 21st century, died Sunday.
Illinois’ governor from 1991 to 1999, Edgar after leaving office kept his word that his formal political career was over.
Edgar entered the governor’s office amid a recession, and his time as Illinois’ chief executive marked a brief era of relative fiscal restraint.
Following a successful decade as secretary of state, Edgar won his first term as governor in 1990, defeating Democratic Attorney General Neil Hartigan 51% to 48%.
Edgar said he had no role in MSI’s contract and denied that the case played any role in his decision to retire from public office.
Jim Edgar, a two-term Republican governor who led Illinois through much of the 1990s with a quiet but forceful demeanor and a careful attention to budgetary issues to get the state ready for the twenty-first century, passed away on Sunday. He was 79 years old. .
According to friends and associates, Edgar passed away in Springfield after being admitted to the hospital for a negative reaction to his pancreatic cancer treatment after receiving a diagnosis in January.
“We regret to inform you that Jim Edgar, our cherished husband, father, and grandfather, passed away this morning in Springfield due to complications resulting from his pancreatic cancer treatment,” family members said in a statement. Over the past few months, Jim and our family have received a great deal of love, support, and kindness, for which we are incredibly thankful. “”.
Born in the small Oklahoman town of Vinita but raised in Charleston, Illinois, Edgar was arguably one of the most popular governors in the state’s history. His taciturn demeanor offered stable governance. It stood in stark contrast to his immediate predecessor, James R. Dot Thompson, a Republican who spent a record 14 years in office as a tireless campaigner with a lavish, carefree personality who was driven to build, spend, and strike deals.
After leaving his position as governor of Illinois (1991–1999), Edgar remained true to his declaration that his official political career was over. He became a senior fellow at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. He turned down attempts by other Republicans to run for U.S. Congress twice, to be drafted as the state party chairman, and to run for governor again. S. . Senate.
Even so, he continued to be a political elder statesman and was consulted by leaders of both parties, even though the GOP he led shifted significantly to the right over the last ten or so years as Illinois Republicans supported Donald Trump’s two terms in office.
In a tearful speech in August, Edgar stated, “We reached out.”. 20, 1997, when he announced he would not seek a third term as governor or enter the U. S. . Senate contest. “We have heard you. We have done more than any other administration in this state’s history. Illinois is a better state as a result, and we are ready for what lies ahead. “”.
Edgar’s U-turn was anticipated by many Republicans across the country. A. During his Senate campaign, he voiced worries about how affordable it would be to raise his family in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, it is evident that he preferred working in the executive branch over the legislative.
A period of relative fiscal restraint characterized Edgar’s tenure as Illinois’ chief executive, and he came into office during a recession. But a post-recession economic recovery later made it easier to balance the budget while addressing the poor’s skyrocketing health care costs and past-due state bills, as well as implementing his goal of increasing funding for elementary and secondary education.
He alternated between being a politician and a bureaucrat during his career, and his impeccable hair was practically a symbol of the attention to governmental minutiae.
Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago, argued with him, claiming the politician from the downstate didn’t know Chicago. His detractors called him “Governor No” and argued that he lacked a state vision.
However, in 2010, Edgar attacked politicians who used the word “vision” as part of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum’s oral history project, calling it “overrated” and claiming that he had not yet seen “any vision that’s worked.”. “.”.
“You have to manage what a governor has to do, and particularly needs to do in Illinois when I came in, and it needs now. A vision is useless if you are unable to manage it. You must manage,” Edgar remarked.
Edgar later noted that the fact that both of his successors ended up in prison likely only improved his popularity with voters.
“What the public thought was the most important thing to me, and they’re generally positive.”. The public believed that things were going fairly well based on the data and studies I’ve seen. It was their thought at the time. In hindsight, I believe they may think even better now,” he said.
His remarks were made while the state government was in shock over the Democratic governor’s impeachment. Rod Blagojevich, who was later imprisoned for corruption. As Edgar’s successor, Republican Governor Blagojevich had promised reforms. After being the subject of a federal investigation, George Ryan was imprisoned for corruption.
For years, Edgar served as the model for a successful statewide Republican candidate due to his fiscal conservatism and moderate social views, which included his support for abortion rights. Many hopefuls, however, have disregarded that template in recent years and ultimately lost. In the far-right GOP ideology of the Trump era, Edgar expressed his own doubts about his ability to win a primary.
Edgar worked for the government for thirty years in Springfield, moving up the ranks from legislative assistant to state legislator, governor’s staff, and finally statewide office. In 1990, Edgar defeated Democratic Attorney General Neil Hartigan 51 percent to 48 percent to win his first term as governor after a successful ten years as secretary of state.
He kept his campaign pledge to permanently raise the state income tax for education, even though it was a risky one. After years of passing pork-barrel projects, he also severed budget cuts and urged lawmakers to destroy the state’s “credit card.”.
Four years later, he grabbed 64 percent of the vote, won by over 900,000 ballots, and took 101 of the 102 counties in the state, including Cook County, defeating Democratic state Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch in one of the biggest electoral landslides in the state’s history. In downstate Illinois, Netsch won by a slim margin in Gallatin County.
As governor, Edgar took pride in his achievements, which included enforcing budgetary restraint and job cuts, relaxing laws that significantly increased adoptions, offering health care to children from low-income families, establishing welfare-to-work programs, promoting economic growth, and investing in and expanding natural resources.
In the mid-1990s, during a brief two-year period of one-party Republican control of the legislature and the governor’s office, Edgar oversaw management and budgetary reforms for the Chicago Public Schools, which allowed Daley to take over the system. Edgar once referred to this accomplishment as a “crown jewel.”. “”.
Daley worked privately with Republicans to improve the plan, even though he publicly opposed the school reforms because of union opposition. In recent years, Democrats have taken steps to establish an all-elected school board and decentralize mayoral authority over the city’s schools.
However, Edgar and Daley publicly disagreed on a number of topics, from plans for a new stadium for the Chicago Bears and the location of a third airport in the Chicago area to ideas for land-based casino gambling and the future of Meigs Field, a former lakefront airport that Edgar wanted to keep open but Daley wanted turned into a park.
Under different governors, the stadium and casino plans were developed, and the third airport is still closed. But years after Edgar left office, Daley finally got his way with Meigs by destroying its runway in a covert midnight demolition.
Edgar was unsuccessful in negotiating a $1.05 billion reduction in property taxes to support local schools in return for a $2 billion increase in state taxes. The election-year plan was met with resistance from Republican legislative leaders, who had secured a majority in both the House and the Senate two years prior. During the campaign, Netsch had come under fire from him for putting forth a similar tax-swap plan.
Edgar was also the driving force behind the state’s pension funding ramp, which aimed to cover the unfunded pension liabilities of teachers and public state employees over a half-century. Due to the ramp, payments were backloaded into later years, the unfunded pension liability increased from $20 billion to over $140 billion, and state payments now account for almost 20 cents of every dollar of the budget.
According to Edgar, the plan was never intended to be a one-time solution and that subsequent state governments ought to have made changes to it. However, this was never done, and some successor legislatures and governors failed to make the necessary contributions to the ramp.
The time he served as governor was not without controversy.
In 1997, Edgar’s tollway chief, Robert Hickman, a former Charleston mayor who was also a close friend and a key fundraising assistant during his political career, was found guilty of a fraudulent land-sale scheme alongside a state lawmaker.
Management Services of Illinois, Inc., a computer programming company that was one of Edgar’s largest political donors, approached him later that year as he was considering his political future. was found guilty, along with a co-founder of the company, of federal fraud and bribery charges. In order to identify Medicaid recipients who were not eligible for benefits, the firm retroactively renegotiated the beneficial contract, defrauding the state of $12.09 million.
Edgar was not charged with any crimes, but he was the first sitting governor of Illinois to appear in court as a defense witness in two trials in 75 years. Edgar denied that the case had anything to do with his decision to leave public office and claimed he had no involvement in MSI’s contract.
After much deliberation over whether to resign, run for reelection, or pursue a U.S. S. . Senate seat, Edgar chose to step down from elected office at the end of his second term. He later claimed to have prepared three speeches before deciding he just wanted to leave while he was still in the lead.
I therefore rehearsed all three speeches. When I reached the part of the speech where I declared that I would never run again, I started crying. I was unable to speak because you understand that by not running, you are willingly giving up all of the power and accomplishments you have spent your entire life working for. In the oral history, he recalled, “I had never experienced that.”.
“I realized why it’s so difficult to persuade people to retire and why they stay so long. They’re unwilling to let go. They have dedicated their entire lives to achieving this goal, and in my opinion, the governorship was the culmination,” he stated.
Despite stating that reelection was a realistic possibility, he added, “I also thought I’ve done the job, I’ve kind of done it, and now there’s other things in life to do while you can still do it.”. “.”.
Later, Edgar lamented the Republican Party’s leadership’s shift to the right, saying it was an unworkable formula for statewide GOP candidates, especially in the suburbs. He detested Trump’s management and campaign tactics as well.
Edgar had a history of heart issues, had a quadruple bypass operation during his 1994 reelection year, and was a teetotaler who later adopted a heart-healthy diet.
When doctors discovered slowed blood flow in a small vessel leading to Edgar’s heart on June 6, 1998, he was admitted to the hospital with heart-related issues, with nearly six months left in his second term. Although doctors decided that medication could be used to treat it, it was his third hospitalization for a heart condition while he was CEO.
On Feb. To former members of the “Edgar Fellows,” a bipartisan initiative he oversaw at the University of Illinois that prepared the state’s future political leaders, Edgar revealed his pancreatic cancer diagnosis on April 24, 2025.
He said, “I have pancreatic cancer that has spread,” on behalf of himself and his wife, Brenda, at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. We have faith that the medical staff will assist us in overcoming this obstacle, but we do not undervalue it. “.”.
Following the announcement of Edgar’s passing on Sunday, Democratic Gov. In addition to hailing Edgar as “a model public servant, a devoted father and husband, and an honest and honorable man,” JB Pritzker described him as “a friend and a mentor.”. “.”.
We should channel that spirit and make the decision to live as governor now more than ever. Edgar did so with integrity, honesty, and a deep regard for everyone,” Pritzker remarked. “There is no denying that his dedication to working across party lines for the benefit of Illinoisans improved our state.”. “.”.
Pritzker declared that in observance of Edgar’s legacy, Illinois flags would be flown at half-staff throughout the state.
A former Republican, U. A. Representative. Peoria resident Ray LaHood, who was U. S. . The Democratic President Barack Obama’s transportation secretary referred to Edgar as “the gold standard for public service, honesty, and integrity.”. “”.
LaHood stated, “During his tenure as the Edgar Fellows’ leader, he served as an inspirational mentor to hundreds of public servants.”.
The Edgar Fellows program was another example of how the late former governor emphasized “bipartisan service and problem solving,” according to Kirk Dillard, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority and Edgar’s chief of staff in the governor’s office. “.”.
“Everyone should take a step back and learn from Jim Edgar’s legacy of compassion, decency, and cooperative collaboration in a world of polarized political times,” said Dillard, a former state senator and Republican chairman of DuPage County.
The deceased former governor “restored credibility to our state government, and he was always a true statesman,” according to Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a former Edgar fellow. “.”.
“After Gov. Welch remarked, “Earlier today, we lost a good man, a good friend, and a damn good governor, Edgar.”.
The youngest of three boys, James Robert Edgar, was raised by his mother, Betty, in Charleston, Illinois, following the death of his father in a car accident when he was seven years old.
In his elementary school, he ran a fictitious presidential campaign for Dwight D. Eisenhower in the first grade, solidifying his future as a Republican in a Democratic home.
After graduating from Eastern Illinois University in 1968 with a history major and serving as president of the student body, he worked as a legislative assistant to House Speaker W. W. and Robert Blair. Republican Senate leader Russell Arrington at the time.
The legislative leaders he worked for did not back him in his unsuccessful 1974 GOP primary run for the Illinois House. However, Edgar was elected to the House in 1976 and reelected in 1978. The following year, he was appointed Thompson’s director of legislative affairs.
Thompson recruited Edgar from his work as a gubernatorial lobbyist in January 1981 to fill the vacancy as secretary of state following the election of Democrat Alan Dixon to the U.S. S. the Senate.
In order to reflect a new, younger vitality in the state’s Republican Party, Thompson claimed he selected the relatively unknown Edgar for the position, which is a customary stepping-stone to higher office.
Edgar immediately made a name for himself by strengthening the state’s lax drunken driving regulations. His high profile from the crackdown helped him win two full four-year terms in office.
Edgar also successfully pushed for the requirement that drivers carry liability insurance along the way. His increasing prominence and relative youth also prepared him for a run for governor in 1990, when Thompson declared he would not run for a fifth term.
Though he was still undecided, Edgar thought back on his tenure as Illinois’ chief executive on the eve of his decision not to run for a third term as governor.
Edgar remarked, “I can leave as governor tomorrow feeling very good about what I’ve done as governor, that we’ve made a difference.”. “There’s never enough to do. Is there anything else I should be doing, or is it time to let someone else try? “”.
Being governor is “the best job in American politics,” according to Edgar, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and owner. “.”.
The public must ultimately be satisfied for you to succeed in a democracy. While it’s nice to receive editorials, stories, and other materials, I believe that what you really want is for the average person to say, “Oh, you did a good job.”. “.”.
His wife, daughter Elizabeth, and son Brad are all survivors of Edgar.
