By Stephanie Kifowit, State representative, 84th District
“I’m okay being a footnote in history.” That is what I told one of my colleagues while watching the first day of session in the new 102nd General Assembly. I watched in a bit of disbelief as a new Speaker of the House presided over the meeting. This is a new day in Illinois and while I am unsure of the journey that the State of Illinois will have from that day forward, it certainly will be different from the decades before.
I have always been a person of intuition, I trust my gut on many decisions I have made during my lifetime. One reporter asked me why I joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and I said it was a gut decision. I’m sure she was looking for a more deep decision-making response for her story.
The year 2020 was one for the history books due to COVID-19; but one for the deep desire to make a change in the State of Illinois. In June 2020 I was taken aback when the federal-deferred prosecution agreement named speaker Madigan as Public Official A in the Commonwealth Edison bribery scheme. It is just not how our government is supposed to be, and it was the last straw for me. I wrote a letter and explained that my definition of leadership overall was not reflected in the actions and E-mail that had been released at that time and stated that speaker Madigan should step down. I believe in working hard to keep the public trust and integrity in our governmental leaders of our State, especially the speaker of the House. Eventually, there were be seven other independent House Democrats joining me in the call for him to step down.
As time passed, my intuition spurred me to a feeling that I must do something more. I was keenly aware that there had not been a contested race for speaker of the House since 1975, and I knew that announcing my intention of running for the next speaker of the House would be seen as symbolic and not genuine. However, I believed that with all the controversy and issues facing the State of Illinois, there needed to be a choice. So, I launched my campaign for speaker of the House October 1, 2020 alone at the podium and knowing that my fellow House members would be angry with me. I believed in my heart that it was the right thing to do.
In the following months, I connected with my fellow House members and began a journey of discovery and fellowship. I enjoyed discussing visions and ideas of a new future in the Illinois House with my colleagues, some who supported me and others who did not. As I continued on this journey, the number of independent House Democrats rose from eight to 19 members. History was being made at the end of 2020 and change was about to happen.
In the end, we have a new Speaker of the House after four decades of the same leadership. My congratulations to newly-elected speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. I am honored by the support I received, even after additional candidates emerged. I am proud to have been the catalyst that generated four additional candidates for speaker to give the members of the Illinois House Democratic Caucus a choice. That was my goal first and foremost; for members to have a choice of leadership when there had not been one for so long.
January 13, 1975, Representative Dan Pierce stated “no man owns an office, no man is entitled to an office, the people of this House would determine who the speaker is”; and we did. History was made January 13, 2021, 46 years later, to elect a new speaker of the House and I am happy being a footnote in that story.
Representative Stephanie Kifowit’s House District is in portions of Oswego, Aurora, and Naperville.