IL 15th House District Vacancy

On November 5, 2021, State Representative John D’Amico retired. This creates a vacancy in the 15th House District which covers most of the 39th Ward. A replacement must now be appointed to finish the remainder of his term which goes through January of 2023. This replacement will be appointed by the local Democratic Committeepersons: the elected party officials representing the wards and townships that make up the 15th House District.

As 39th Ward Neighbors United, we believe any process to appoint a new state representative should be transparent, publicly accessible, and informed by the needs of our community. For too long politicians and political insiders have used these appointment processes to pick successors and continue political dynasties. Recent appointments to vacant seats in the General Assembly have shown that our communities are demanding for this practice to end.

Our communities must have a say in any process to select a government official that will be representing them. We call on democratic committeepersons Ram Villivalam (39th Ward), Laura Murphy (Maine Township), Lou Lang (Niles Township), Joe Cook (41st Ward), Iris Martinez (33rd Ward), Debra Silverstein (50th Ward), James Gardiner (45th Ward), and Anthony Quezada (35th Ward) to create a public and democratic process to determine the next State Representative for the 15th House District.