Jason Barickman (born May 1, 1975), is a Republican member of the
Illinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...
, representing the 53rd district since January 2013. He previously served in 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 ...
, representing the 105th district from 2011 to 2013.
Early life
Barickman was born May 1, 1975, in
Streator, Illinois
Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...
. Barickman was raised on his family farm in rural
Livingston County. He graduated from
Woodland High School before going on to
Illinois State University
Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...
, where he served as the student body president, and the
University of Illinois College of Law
The University of Illinois College of Law (Illinois Law or UIUC Law) is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public university in Champaign, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S. ...
. Following his graduation from law school, he became the Chair of the Champaign County Republican Central Committee. Barickman, a veteran, served in the
Illinois Army National Guard
The Illinois Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. With the Illinois Air National Guard it forms the Illinois National Guard. National coordination of various state National Guard unit ...
as an infantry soldier.
He is a
principal at the Meyer Capel law firm. Barickman lives in Bloomington with his wife and three children.
As the Chairman of the Champaign County Republican Party, he supported the
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
of former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
during the
2008 Republican Party presidential primaries
From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Republican Party chose their nominee for president in the 2008 United States presidential election. Senator John McCain of Arizona was selected as the nominee through a series of primary electio ...
.
Illinois House of Representatives
Following the election of former State Senator
Dan Rutherford
Dan Rutherford (born May 26, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 73rd Treasurer of Illinois from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the Illinois State Senator from the 53rd district from 2003 to 2011 ...
as
Illinois State Treasurer
The Treasurer of Illinois is an elected official of the U.S. state of Illinois. The office was created by the Constitution of Illinois.
Current Occupant
The current Treasurer of Illinois is Democrat Mike Frerichs. He was first elected to head t ...
, then State Rep.
Shane Cultra
Shane Cultra is an American politician and former Republican member of the Illinois General Assembly.
Early life and career
Cultra was born in Onarga, Illinois. He graduated from Michigan State University with an agricultural technology degree i ...
was selected to fill out Rutherford's remaining term in the Illinois State Senate. As vacancies in the
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...
are filled by a weighted vote of county party chairman of the outgoing legislator's political party, Barickman voluntarily relinquished his vote for both the
Illinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...
and Illinois House seats, to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. Barickman was chosen by the legislative committee to serve a two-year term in the
97th General Assembly as a State Representative from the 105th House District in Illinois, a district that comprised parts of Livingston, Iroquois, Ford, McLean, Vermilion and Champaign counties. Cultra resigned from the Illinois House effective midnight January 9, 2011, and was succeeded by his longtime legislative aide
Russell Geisler for a single day. On January 10, 2011, Barickman was sworn in to succeed Geisler.
Illinois State Senate
During the 2011 decennial redistricting, the 53rd district was redrawn to include portions of
Bloomington and
Normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson
* ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie
* ''Norma ...
while losing Tazewell County. In the 2012 Republican primary, Barickman opted to run for the Illinois Senate against Shane Cultra. Barickman defeated Cultra with 19,713 votes to Cultra's 11,861 votes. Barickman won the general election.
On February 14, 2013, Barickman was the lone Republican senator to vote in favor of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act which legalized same-sex marriage in Illinois. During the 2014 regular legislative session, Barickman, as co-chair of the Legislative Audit Commission, was heavily involved in the audit of former Governor
Pat Quinn's controversial Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI), a program which was hastily implemented by Quinn in the weeks leading up to the election, and was described by many as a wasteful disaster. NRI spent more than $50 million in taxpayer funding in grants to agencies in Chicago. This was followed by multiple criminal investigations and an additional state audit. Barickman has continued to work with members of both political parties to address the shortcomings in Illinois grant law to prevent future disasters similar to NRI.
On September 18, 2016, following the resignation of Deputy Minority Leader
Matt Murphy (R-
Palatine
A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times. ) resignation from the Republican Leadership, and Illinois Senate, Republican Minority Leader
Christine Radogno
Christine Radogno (born December 21, 1952) is an American politician and former Republican member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 41st Legislative District in Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties from 1997 to 2017. Radogno served as the Mino ...
(R-
Lemont) appointed Barickman to Republican Minority Whip for the Republican Senate Caucus, then after the next recent election, Senator Barickman was promoted to one of four Assistant Republican Leadership positions. When the 102nd General Assembly convened in January 2021, Barickman was elevated to Caucus Chair and is now also serving as the Caucus Floor Leader.
Senator Barickman was heavily involved in the process of reforming Illinois' outdated formula for distributing school funding. He was the first to file legislation establishing an Evidence Based Model (EBM). Through his advocacy, the EBM concept was eventually embraced by lawmakers from both parties and the Governor, and was the basis for a new funding system signed into law in 2017.
He currently serves on the following committees: Executive (Minority Spokesperson); Redistricting (Minority Spokesperson); Energy and Public Utilities; Judiciary; Labor; Judiciary- Business Entities; Judiciary- Privacy; Redistricting- Chicago South (Sub-Minority Spokesperson); Redistricting- E Central & SE IL (Sub-Minority Spokesperson); Executive- Elections; Executive- Cannabis.
In the 2022 general election, Barickman was elected to the 103rd General Assembly. On December 5, 2022, Barickman announced that he would resign effective at the end of the 102nd General Assembly. His successor for the 103rd General Assembly will be chosen by local Republican leaders.
State Representative
Thomas M. Bennett
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Thomas Michael Bennett (born June 8, 1956) is a Republican member-designate of the Illinois Senate from the 53rd district. The 53rd district includes all or portions of Bureau, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, LaSalle, Marshall, McLean, Peoria, Putn ...
was appointed to the vacancy.
References
External links
Biography, bills and committeesat the 98th Illinois General Assembly
**By session
99th98th97th*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barickman, Jason
Republican Party Illinois state senators
Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives
1975 births
Living people
People from Champaign, Illinois
University of Illinois College of Law alumni
21st-century American politicians
Illinois lawyers