ABOUT ROBIN KELLY

In a special election on April 9^th 2013, Robin Kelly was elected to represent Illinois’ 2^nd District in Congress – receiving 70.7% of the vote after winning the hotly-contested Special Democratic Primary on February 26, 2013 with an overwhelming 53.3% of the vote in a 15-way race.

Congressman Kelly began her career representing Illinois’ 38^th District in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2002 to 2007. In 2007, Kelly left her position as Representative to take on the challenges of the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office. She was the first female African-American to serve as Chief of Staff where she worked for a progressive agenda founded in social and economic justice through innovative investment strategy, encouraging small and local businesses, eradicating food deserts, and promoting financial literacy.  Additionally, Kelly was essential in streamlining processes in the Treasurer’s Office that reduced expenses and advanced stronger ethical guidelines.

Before deciding to run for Congress in late 2013, Kelly was Chief Administrative Officer of Cook County, where she was responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and implementing policy.

Now, as a Representative in U.S. Congress, Kelly pushes forward those same positive, progressive agendas for her constituents in Illinois’ 2^nd District. Robin Kelly has a long history of standing up to the NRA. She has fought tirelessly to ensure that proper and necessary gun control legislation is in place to protect the people of her district and the United States.

Kelly attended Bradley University in Peoria, where she received her B.A. in psychology and a M.A. in counseling. Kelly also has a Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Kelly serves as a Trustee of Bradley University. In addition to being an active member of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc, she belongs to Bradley’s Centurion Society for honored alumni. Kelly serves on many boards and commissions including the Cook County Human Rights Commission, the Hate Crimes Commission, and is a board member for the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

Kelly lives with her husband, Dr. Nathaniel Horn in Matteson. They have two adult children: Kelly and Ryan.

Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District is adjacent to the 1st District to the north and west, the 11th  District to the south, and Indiana’s 1st District to the east. The district’s northeast border follows Lake Michigan’s shoreline for several miles. The district was created following the 1830 U.S. Census and came into existence in 1833, five months before Chicago was organized as a town.

The 2nd Congressional District initially included Southeastern Illinois until 1853 and stretches of Northern Illinois until 1873. It has been based in Chicago since 1853, and part of the southeast side since 1903.

Local educational institutions include Governors State University in University Park, Chicago State University in Roseland, Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, South Suburban College in South Holland and Olive-Harvey College, a Chicago city college, in Pullman. The University of Chicago is directly west of the district’s northern end. Hospitals in the district include Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, St. James Hospitals in Chicago Heights and Olympia Fields, Advocate Trinity Hospital in Calumet Heights, La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Woodlawn, South Shore Hospital in South Chicago and Roseland Community Hospital in Roseland.

The Museum of Science and Industry is located almost at the district’s northern tip. Various areas of the Cook County Forest Preserves are scattered throughout the suburban part of the district, particularly in the area northeast of Chicago Heights. Other notable business and industrial presences in the district include Jays Foods, a manufacturer of snack foods based in Pullman; the Norfolk Southern Railway; Allied Tube and Conduit, a piping and electrical manufacturer in Harvey; and UGN Inc., an automotive soundproofing manufacturer in Chicago Heights.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A MAP OF THE 2nd DISTRICT

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

“I share Robin’s passionate advocacy to end gun violence with common-sense solutions because like her, I believe families impacted by gun violence — especially in my home city of Chicago — deserve a vote,” Obama said in a statement reported by the NBC affiliate in Chicago. “I urge you to elect Robin Kelly as your representative in the United States Congress.”

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JAN SCHAKOWSKY:

“I’m endorsing Robin because Congress needs someone who is going to fight for strong gun violence prevention laws, and Robin Kelly is that candidate. Robin has the experience to hit the ground running and the passion to make a difference,”

U.S. CONGRESSMAN DANNY DAVIS:

“Robin Kelly has the kind of pragmatism that you need to get results in Washington, while never compromising her beliefs like many do. If we are going to stop the NRA in their tracks, and make our communities safe again, Robin Kelly is the right woman for the job.”

U.S. CONGRESSMAN BOBBY RUSH:

“Our communities are facing an epidemic of gun violence, and we need more members of Congress who can be trusted to fight for common sense gun control measures. Robin Kelly is a woman of integrity and conviction, and President Obama, Congressman Davis and I need her as our partner in ending gun violence.”

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

“Throughout her career, Kelly has been meticulous about separating her campaign activities from her government work. When she ran for state treasurer in 2010, she subtracted from her time sheets any activities that could be considered election-related. In this campaign, she resigned from her job in Cook County to run full time. That’s rare among Illinois politicians. It’s time 2nd District residents, some of whom live in Illinois’ most impoverished communities, have a full-time advocate in Congress. Kelly is best suited for the job.”

THE ILLINOIS OBSERVER:

“Congress needs another voice and another vote that will fight to confront gun violence, to confront the NRA, and to confront its financiers, the gun manufacturers. The NRA and its paymasters have stocked Congress with its apologists. The victims and voters need to even the scale. Gun violence is the issue of time. Robin Kelly is the candidate of our time. We enthusiastically endorse Kelly for Congress.”

OTHER ENDORSEMENTS INCLUDE:

Will Burns, 4th Ward Alderman
Alexi Giannoulias, Former State Treasurer
James Clayborne, Illinois State Senator
Deborah Graham, Alderman, 29th Ward
John Ostenburg, Mayor, Park Forest
Rick Reinbold, Mayor, Richton Park
David Webb, Jr., Mayor, Markham
Dwight Welch, Mayor, Country Club Hills
Edward Zabrocki, Mayor, Tinley Park
Carl White, Pastor, Victory Assembly Church
Tim Bradford, Democratic Committeeman, Rich Township

I believe that one of the most important obligations elected officials have is to be accountable and accessible to the people they serve. That’s why as your Congresswoman I pledge to run a fully-engaged constituent services office that is responsive to you. My door will always be open.

And when I’m not in Washington, D.C. fighting for you, I’ll be traveling the District meeting with you, hearing your concerns and using them to inform the work I’ll do on your behalf.

I’m calling on you for your support, and I pledge that as your Congresswoman you’ll always be able to call on me for mine.

I believe in a woman’s right to choose and in her right to make her own decisions about her body and her healthcare.

As your Congresswoman, I will work to preserve abortion rights and expand access to birth control as these are essential components of women’s reproductive health. It’s one reason I support the Affordable Care Act, especially the expansion of women’s preventive healthcare services.

I believe that women are more than capable of making our own choices about their healthcare. And as your Congresswoman, I will work to protect our right to do so.

Improving transportation in the 2nd Congressional District is key to putting our community on the fast track to economic development. And infrastructure improvements are vital to this economic renewal. That’s why I support plans for the South Suburban Airport and the Red Line Expansion to 130th Street as well as the planned construction of the Illiana Expressway.

It’s important to me, however, that these projects be carried out the right way. And that means using homegrown talent to build hometown projects. Quite simply, infrastructure projects in our district should be built by the people they will serve.

I don’t want a replay of the CREATE/Metra Englewood Flyover fiasco in which minority-owned firms were virtually cut out of a multimillion-dollar construction project in their own backyard. Our infrastructure should be built by our hands, from professional services firms in Chicago to small construction firms in the Southland.

As your Congresswoman, I will work to create opportunities for residents and businesses in the 2nd District to participate in infrastructure projects in the district. It’s only right that our residents have a hand in projects that will help shape our future.