His removal comes nearly two months after his arrest on charges of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. He becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

The vote in the Illinois Senate to convict him of abuse of power was 59-0. Lawmakers immediately began voting on whether to bar Blagojevich from ever holding public office in Illinois.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn automatically becomes the new governor.

Earlier in the day, Blagojevich came to the Senate to make a last-minute plea to save his job, warning lawmakers that they were about to set a "dangerous" and "chilling" precedent.