I think we're argued enough about something that IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE ON THE TABLE (abolishing the 17th amendment).
BTW I just noticed your tagline DJ, lol.
You just noticed my tagline now ? It’s gotten so old I was thinking of changing it. :-P
Fun fact regarding Illinois.
Had the 17th never been implemented, the last time a Republican MIGHT have won a Senate seat would’ve been in January 1997 where the combined total of the legislature equaled a one-vote GOP majority. That would’ve been RINO Bob Kustra over Dick Durbin. However, you know that Durbin could’ve easily bribed a single Combiner RINO squish to have given him the seat.
Prior to that, not since 1981... and back then with the “Big House” and scores of fake Republicans occupying heavy Dem 3-member seats, the Dems would’ve prevailed then, too, with Alan Dixon. Before that, 1972 with the worthless left-wing RINO Chuck Percy (though as with 1981, he’d have had to keep fake Republicans from voting for Dem Roman Pucinski).
The last time that the GOP would’ve DEFINITELY gotten their nominee (barring chicanery) would’ve been in 1966 (Percy’s first term, although Paul Douglas, the incumbent, could’ve bribed members) and 1968 for Everett Dirksen’s last term, which would be barely a year. Senate appointee Ralph Tyler Smith might’ve been able to eke out a win for the remainder of the term in 1970, but again, just 3 GOP votes could’ve been enough to install Adlai Stevenson the 3rd in the seat with fake Chicago “Republicans.”
So, yeah, after the 1960s in Illinois, it’s pretty much a given (even with fleeting GOP legislative majorities on a rare occasion), the likelihood is that the last Republican Senator would’ve been out by 1972 or 1978 at the latest.