Illinois Congressional Delegation Bios Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Springfield, is the 47th U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, the state’s senior senator, and the convener of Illinois’ bipartisan congressional delegation. Durbin also serves as the Assistant Democratic Leader, the second highest ranking position among the Senate Democrats. Also known as the Minority Whip, Senator Durbin has been elected to this leadership post by his Democratic colleagues every two years since 2005. Elected to the U.S. Senate on November 5, 1996, and re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014, Durbin fills the seat left vacant by the retirement of his long-time friend and mentor, U.S. Senator Paul Simon. Durbin sits on the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations, and Rules Committees. He is the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution and the Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient and former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. She was among the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Duckworth served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring from military service in 2014 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms. In 2004, Duckworth was deployed to Iraq as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois Army National Guard. On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and Duckworth lost her legs and partial use of her right arm. Senator Duckworth spent the next year recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where she quickly became an advocate for her fellow Soldiers and testified before Congress about caring for our Veterans and wounded warriors. Following her recovery, she became Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, working to create a tax credit for employers who hired Veterans, establish a first-in-the-nation 24/7 Veterans crisis hotline and develop innovative programs to improve Veterans’ access to housing and health care. In 2009, President Obama appointed Duckworth to be Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs. In the U.S. Senate, Duckworth serves on several influential committees that give her an important platform to advocate for Illinois’s working families and entrepreneurs: the Environment & Public Works Committee; the Energy & Natural Resources Committee; the Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee; and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee. Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL-1) Rush is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Army and an ordained minister with a master’s Degree in Theology. In addition to his congressional responsibilities, Rush is the pastor of the Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ in Chicago. Rush listens to his constituents with a pastor’s ear and acts on their needs with a politician’s skill. A legendary figure in modern American politics, Congressman Bobby Rush exhibited extraordinary leadership skills long before his 1992 election to Illinois' First Congressional District. Rush was born in Albany, Georgia, in November 23, 1946, under extremely segregated conditions. Rush’s family moved to Chicago in 1953, when he was seven years old. In 1963, at the age of seventeen, Rush enlisted in the U. S. Army and served honorably until 1968. Later, Rush made history when he formed the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party after having been inspired by the activism of Stokely Carmichael and others. During this time, Rush formed the Free Medical Clinic in Chicago. It was later that Rush would confront the political establishment with a more traditional approach. Rush secured the position of alderman of Chicago’s Second Ward in 1983 and he continued to serve as an alderman until 1992, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Rush participates on the subcommittees on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protections, and Energy and Power, as well as on the House Committee on Commerce. These three entities account for three-quarters of all national legislation. During his term, Rush has served as member of the U.S. delegation of the North Atlantic Assembly and sponsored many community-based initiatives. Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-IL-2) Since being elected to serve the 2nd Congressional District in 2013, Congresswoman Kelly has worked to expand economic opportunity, community wellness, and public safety across the state, championing numerous initiatives to generate job growth, reduce health disparities, and end gun violence. She is a Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (the main investigative body of the House) and serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Information Technology, where she has focused her efforts on improving cyber-security, strengthening IT-infrastructure, and encouraging new and emerging technologies. Kelly also serves on the Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules. As the senior Illinois representative on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Congresswoman has laid out a forward-thinking foreign policy vision for the United States and has been an outspoken proponent of diplomacy, international human rights and the need for clear and thoughtful American leadership abroad. A staunch champion of common sense gun reforms and responsible community policing, Representative Kelly is a Co-Chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce, was tapped to sit on the House Task Force on Community-Police Relations and is the author of The 2014 Kelly Report on Gun Violence in America, the first-ever Congressional analysis of the nation's gun violence epidemic that offers a blueprint for ending the crisis. Committed to improving the health and wellness of vulnerable communities across the country, the Congresswoman serves as the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, and Co-Chairs the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls. She also Co-Chairs the House Democratic Budget Group and Congressional Diversifying Technology Caucus. Prior to her election to Congress, Kelly was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, served as Chief Administrative Officer of Cook County (the second largest county in the United States) and was Chief of Staff to Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias - becoming the first African American woman to serve as Chief of Staff to an elected constitutional statewide officeholder. Congressman Daniel Lipinski (D-IL-3) Dan Lipinski is a proud native of Illinois’ Third Congressional District, which includes parts of the southwest side of Chicago, southwest Cook County, and northeastern Will County. Now in his sixth term, Rep. Lipinski has distinguished himself as a champion of the middle class. Rep. Lipinski is the most senior member from Illinois on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, serving on three subcommittees: Aviation; Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials; and Highways and Transit. On the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Congressman Lipinski is the third most senior Democrat and serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology, and also sits on the Subcommittee on Energy. Lipinski’s district includes Argonne National Laboratory. Prior to serving in Congress, Rep. Lipinski taught American Government at the college level, including at the University of Notre Dame. In the 114th Congress, he is one of just a dozen trained engineers in Congress. Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL-4) Now in his twelfth term, Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez is the senior member of the Illinois delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is an experienced legislator and energetic spokesman on behalf of his constituents in Illinois' Fourth District in the heart of Chicago, who first elected him to his seat in 1992. He previously served as an Alderman in the City of Chicago and has been a teacher, a social worker and a cab driver, among other diverse experiences. He is the Dean of the Illinois Delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee (Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee) and the Financial Services Committee. He is the author or co-author of many bills like McCain/Kennedy/Flake/Kolbe/Gutiérrez, the first bicameral, bipartisan comprehensive reform bill in 2005. At the beginning of the 113th Congress in January 2013, Rep. Gutiérrez took a leave of absence from the House Financial Services Committee, where he was the third ranking Democrat, to take a less senior position on the Judiciary Committee. He did this so that he could work directly on two signature issues that have defined his career: gun violence prevention and comprehensive immigration reform. Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL-5) Mike Quigley was elected to Congress to represent Illinois’ 5th District on April 7, 2009. A former Cook County Commissioner who began his career serving as an aide to former 44th Ward Alderman Bernie Hansen, Mike has served his community for more than thirty years. He currently serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, the Subcommittee on Financial Services and the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. At the start of the 114th Congress, Mike was appointed by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve on the influential House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The committee oversees the activities of the entire Intelligence Community. Additionally, he currently serves on the NSA and Cybersecurity Subcommittee and is the Ranking Member on the Emerging Threats Subcommittee. He previously served on the House Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where he was the Ranking Member for the Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services, and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs.