The 119th Congress was sworn in last Friday, with a record 110 Democratic women lawmakers in the House and Senate. Republicans, meanwhile, elected 40 women to both chambers.
The Illinois congressional delegation has seven women — out of 19 lawmakers total — including several long-serving incumbents and a couple newcomers. You can use this tool to find out who represents you in Congress.
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D)
Duckworth was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms.
In her own words: “I know from personal experience that engaging with your community and helping others helps foster a sense of shared sacrifice and — at a time when our politics seem more focused on tearing us apart than bringing us together — that shared sacrifice will help us rekindle the national unity that has made us the strongest nation in the world.”
U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D)
Underwood serves Illinois’ 14th Congressional District and was first sworn into Congress on January 3, 2019. She is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress.
The 14th District is in northern Illinois and includes the outer northern and western suburbs of Chicago.
U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D)
Kelly was elected to the 2nd Congressional District in 2013 after serving as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, chief administrative officer of Cook County and Chief of Staff to Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.
The 2nd District is based in the south suburbs of Chicago and includes parts of Cook, Will and Kankakee counties, as well as the city’s southeast side.
In her own words: “Black women, marginalized women, low-income women, and rural women will bear the brunt of overturning Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn an established constitutional right is an attack on the personal freedom and bodily autonomy of every single person living in the United States. I am already working with my colleagues to determine how we can legislatively protect the right to abortion, the right to privacy, and protect women’s healthcare. This is not the end.”
Delia Ramirez (D)
Ramirez was elected to represent the 3rd Congressional District in 2022 after two terms in the Illinois General Assembly. She is the first Latina elected to Congress in Illinois and the entire Midwest.
The 3rd District includes a large part of Chicago’s Northwest Side, as well as communities in Cook and DuPage counties.
In her own words: “Congress has failed mixed-status families, immigrants and Americans for decades. My party and the Republican Party and a lot of people in this building have no idea what immigration and the process of immigration really is,” Ramirez told The 19th. “I have a responsibility to help educate and inform and bring people along into a space that for me is so obvious and clear because I live in it.”
Jan Schakowsky (D)
Schakowsky was elected to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District in 1998, after serving for eight years in the Illinois General Assembly. She is in her 14th term.
The 9th District is based on Chicago’s North Side and includes much of the North Shore and several western suburbs.
In her own words: “I am a fierce advocate for the economic empowerment of all women. In the Congress, I am one of the leaders of an initiative called ‘When Women Succeed, America Succeeds.’ It is an economic agenda for women aimed at making sure women have equal pay for equal work, paid sick leave, and affordable child care.”
Nikki Budzinski (D)
Budzinski was elected as the representative for Illinois’s 13th congressional district in 2022. Just before being elected, she served as chief of staff to the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Biden administration beginning in 2021.
The 13th District cuts a path through Central and Southern Illinois, including Champaign-Urbana, Springfield and most of the St. Louis area.
Mary Miller ( R )
Miller was elected to represent Illinois’s 15th congressional district in 2020. The 15th district is in Central Illinois and is one of the state’s most Republican-leaning districts.
According to her official website, “Mary is also the Chairwoman of the Congressional Family Caucus and a proud member of the House Freedom Caucus and Republican Study Committee, where she fights for conservative, Constitutional principles including the Right to Life, the Second Amendment, border security, and election integrity.”
