In January 2024, Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ editors emailed a questionnaire to candidates in contested March 19 primary races for the Illinois General Assembly, requesting biographical information as well as their views on issues ranging from corruption in state politics to Illinois’ longstanding pension crisis. Answers have been lightly edited for typos, minor grammar and consistency in styling, but not for content or length. Age was calculated as of Feb. 6, 2024.
Sonya Marie Harper: Instilling confidence in government requires continual work because people will always find loopholes to exploit. I have voted for House rules that put term limits on legislative leaders and worked with colleagues across the aisle to appoint a former federal judge as our Legislative Inspector General. I’ve worked to expand lobbyist disclosures so that everyone being paid to influence our elected officials are known to the public. We’ve also updated the mandatory statement of economic interest to bring more transparency and report conflicts of interest.
It’s going to take more than tackling corruption in order to build trust in government which is why I continuously fight to address the root causes of violence, increase our economic development and protect our public schools. I know these are among our top issues because I am always knocking on doors, attending and holding community meetings throughout the district and getting feedback from residents on what I should be working on continuously in Springfield and on the ground in the district.
Sonya Marie Harper: Decades of poor management have led to the challenges we face today. There is no way we are going to solve problems overnight that have built up over so much time. We can only make smarter decisions going forward along with having real conversations with everyone involved about our state’s financial health as well as its obligations to citizens. We are already seeing the result of some of those smarter decisions as Illinois improves its fiscal health. I helped to turn Bruce Rauner’s $17 billion dollar debt into a surplus and began rebuilding our rainy day fund. We even went above our required pension payment to save taxpayers more than $1 billion in the coming years. As a result we’ve earned nine credit rating upgrades — earning A ratings from every rating agency.
Sonya Marie Harper: I am bolstering job growth in the state and in the 6th district through many recent initiatives including but not limited to:
- Investing over $1 million to Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce to support our local businesses and grow jobs.
- Fought for an additional $26 million in funding for youth jobs.
- Spending over $5 million in capital projects which help build developments that will support more jobs and services in the 6th district.
- Allocating $7 million for a food and agriculture related business center in the community that will support and bring in more jobs and healthy food access.
I’ve supported numerous businesses with local infrastructure funding and Back to Business grants. Businesses throughout Illinois have a need for skilled workers, which is why I’m working to restore and expand career, technical, and vocational training so we can prepare young people and train transitioning workers for these high-wage jobs.
I along with other state officials are working to grow businesses and increase local healthy food production by assisting small farmers through a number of newly created grants from the state and federal level that will grow their capacity to serve the food needs of the citizens of Illinois, especially those people living in food deserts.
Would-be employers in my historically disadvantaged communities often struggle to secure the funding to get off the ground. That’s why I supported an expanded Angel Investment Tax Credit to help start-ups and emerging technology companies take off — with a focus on women-owned and minority-owned businesses.
Along with this I also work to remove barriers to work for people with lived experiences including those with criminal records so they can access employment. I’ve also passed legislation that ensures wage equity for women and people of color.
I created and chaired the Economic Opportunity & Equity Committee in the House. I authored most of the legislation I passed as part of the Economic Pillar of the Legislative Black Caucus’ 4 Pillar Agenda to Attack Systemic Racism. That pillar contained dozens of provisions and new laws that, when implemented properly, will help to bolster job growth within the state of Illinois and my district.
Sonya Marie Harper: Even though we know the most significant reforms to redistricting need to happen at the federal level, I am definitely open to discussing how districts are created, especially if that plan protects minority voters and ensures their voices aren’t silenced.
Sonya Marie Harper: The most pressing issue in my district is gun violence and addressing its root causes. It is the one reason I became a journalist, a non-profit leader, a community organizer and then a member of the General Assembly. People in my district care most about education, economic development, jobs, housing, healthy affordable food access, environmental justice, healthcare access, safe walkable neighborhoods and everything that affects a person’s quality of life. The lack of these things are the root causes of violence. When these have been properly addressed and at the same time we treat those who experience trauma through community violence intervention, outreach and other means, we will see a reduction in gun violence.
Most of the legislation I introduce and many of the events I hold revolve around addressing the root causes of violence. Communities that have the most investment, robust economic development and housing, adequately funded schools and luxuries like grocery stores are communities that don’t suffer from gun violence in the way that the people of the 6th district deal with it. Through the work of my Violence Reduction & Trauma Response Team my office has held first responder and stop-the-bleeding training, mental health first aid workshops and town hall meetings. From time to time I get to work with colleagues at all levels of government on projects to create strategies and action plans to reduce gun violence in disproportionately impacted areas of my district and the state. I created the Gun Violence Prevention Caucus in the Illinois House. When I worked on the Cannabis Regulation & Taxation Act I created the framework for the R3 program which seeks to fund programs and projects to help those communities harmed most by the war on drugs. I also fought for the sizable percentage of revenue that would come back to those same communities as a result of taxing cannabis in Illinois. These funds are meant to also help with violence reduction and are yet another way for organizations to access state funding to continue their vital life-saving work.
My approach is to continue passing good policy aimed at breaking down the root causes of violence and addressing issues such as education funding, economic development, healthcare and all those things that go into people having the opportunity to experience a decent quality of life no matter their zip code.
Sonya Marie Harper: I am delivering historic results for the 6th district and the entire state of Illinois and not sending me back to Springfield will stop or slow a lot of positive developments my district and the state has been seeing.
As the youngest Joint Caucus Chair of the Ilinois Legislative Black Caucus, I led the caucus in passing and funding the largest legislative agenda meant to help vulnerable families in this state.
As the first black person to ever chair an agriculture committee in the General Assembly, I have made this entire state aware that food deserts exist and put plans, programs and funding in place to increase healthy affordable food access here in the 6th district and across Illinois.
Since fighting for equitable violence prevention funding and making sure communities who suffer from violence are the ones who are funded to fight it, we are now investing in community violence intervention programs, street level mediation, outreach services and other prevention programs at historic levels. This is helping to grow the capacity of our current organizations and have created new ones to help us in our fight against gun violence.
I keep my constituents informed, engaged and am always accessible. They even help me with the legislative process in making new laws and with community education and engagement through the work of my five district level advisory committees. In addition to my 6th District Violence Reduction & Trauma Response Team, I have advisory committees on the following issues: Education, Small Business and Economic Development and Education. We also have the Food, Agriculture & Environment and Faith Based Advisory Committees, which all meet on a monthly basis.
I am the better candidate because I know what the people of the 6th district want, I’ve been delivering on those same things and will continue to do so.
