Careen M. Gordon is a former Democratic member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

who served as a representative from the 75th district from her appointment in December 2003 until leaving office in January 2011.

Early life

Gordon was born and raised in Morris, Illinois and graduated from

Morris Community High School Morris Community High School, or MCHS, is a public four-year high school located in the Chicago suburb of Morris, Illinois, a city 35 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the school of Morris Community High School Dis ...

. She attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and later graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

in political science and English. After receiving her law degree from John Marshall Law School she worked as an Assistant State's Attorney in Grundy County,

Kankakee County Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 113,449. Its county seat is Kankakee. Kankakee County comprises the Kankakee, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History St ...

and Will County. In 2001, she became an Assistant Attorney General in the Illinois Department of Justice's Criminal Division, where she worked until she was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by Mary O'Brien's resignation.

Illinois House of Representatives

Gordon was appointed to represent the 75th district, which at that time stretched from

Iroquois County Iroquois County is a county located in the northeast part of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States Census, it has a population of 27,077. It is the only county in the United States to be named Iroquois, after the Americ ...

in the southeast to

LaSalle County LaSalle County is located within the Fox Valley and Illinois River Valley regions of the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 109,658. Its county seat and largest city is Ottawa. LaSalle County is part of the O ...

in the northwest and included Bourbonnais, Braceville, Braidwood, Channahon, Chebanse, Coal City,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Herscher, Coal City,

Minooka Minooka is a village (Illinois), village in Grundy County, Illinois, Grundy, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,924 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 cen ...

, Morris,

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

and Wilmington. She began her tenure as a member of the House Agriculture and Conservation, Appropriations—Elementary and Secondary Education, Commerce and Business Development, and Judiciary II—Criminal Law Committees. She was voted out of office on November 2, 2010, when voters of the 75th district elected Republican

Sue Rezin Sue Rezin is a Republican member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 38th district since her appointment in December 2010. The 38th district includes Bureau, Putnam, LaSalle, Grundy, and Kendall counties in north central Illinois. Illin ...

. (However, before she could take Gordon's seat in the House, Rezin was ''appointed'' to the State ''Senate''; Gordon was ultimately succeeded by

Pam Roth Pam Roth is a former Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 75th district from 2011 until her resignation in August 2013. Early life and career She has a degree in business administration and accounting fr ...

, appointed to take Rezin's place in the House.)

References

External links

Illinois General Assembly - Representative Careen M. Gordon (D) 75th District
official IL House website
BillsCommittees
*''Follow the Money'' - Careen M. Gordon
20062004
campaign contributions Members of the Illinois House of Representatives 1972 births Living people People from Morris, Illinois Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century American legislators 21st-century American women politicians People from Coal City, Illinois 21st-century Illinois politicians {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-stub