John M. Sullivan (born January 9, 1959) is an American politician and the former Director of the

Illinois Department of Agriculture The Illinois Department of Agriculture is the code department of the Illinois state government that regulates various facets of the agriculture industries of Illinois, oversees Illinois soil and water conservation, supervises the weights and meas ...

. Prior to this, he served as a Democratic 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 ...

for the 47th district of Illinois from 2003 to 2017.

Early life and career

John Sullivan was born in Macomb in 1959. He graduated from

Quincy University Quincy University (formerly known as St. Francis Solanus College, and today abbreviated as QU) is a private Franciscan university in Quincy, Illinois. It was founded in 1860 and enrolls about 1,100 students. History A small group of Franciscan ...

with a bachelor's degree in history. He went on to work as an agricultural loan officer before joining Sullivan's Auctioneers, the family's successful auction and real estate business. He currently lives on the family farm north of Rushville with his wife, three sons and one daughter.

State senator

Sullivan was elected in 2002, defeating 22-year

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent

Laura Kent Donahue Laura Kent Donahue (born April 22, 1949) was an American businesswoman and politician. She served as a Republican member of the Illinois Senate from 1981 to 2003. Born in Quincy, Illinois, Donahue received a Bachelor of Science from Stephens Co ...

in one of the closest and most expensive senate races that election cycle. The district, the largest in the state includes all of Adams,

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

Cass Cass may refer to: People and fictional characters * Cass (surname), a list of people * Cass (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Big Cass, ring name of wrestler William Morrissey * Cass, in British band Skunk Anansie * Cass, ...

Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshire * ...

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

McDonough McDonough is an Irish surname. Origins and variants The surname is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name "Mac Donnchadha", which means son of Donnchadh or son of Donough. The name itself consists of elements meaning "brown (donn)" or Donn “t ...

Schuyler Schuyler may refer to: Places United States * Schuyler County, Illinois * Schuyler County, Missouri * Schuyler, Nebraska, a city * Schuyler County, New York * Schuyler, New York, a town * Schuyler Island, Lake Champlain, New York * Schuyler C ...

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

counties and portions of

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and Knox counties. Since he represented a historically Republican district, Sullivan was targeted for defeat by the Republicans in the 2004 election. However, he defeated Republican Tom Ernst with 61 percent of the vote. In March 2006

Illinois's 17th congressional district The 17th congressional district of Illinois is represented by Democrat Cheri Bustos. It includes most of the northwestern portion of the state, with most of its population living on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, as well as parts of Peor ...

's congressman,

Lane Evans Lane Allen Evans (August 4, 1951 – November 5, 2014) was an American attorney and politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007, representing the 17th District of Illinois. Ev ...

, announced he would be retiring at the end of his 12th term shortly after he won the nomination for a thirteenth term. Sullivan, whose district was largely coextensive with the west-central portion of the congressional district, entered the special nominating election finishing second to a longtime aide of Evans,

Phil Hare Philip Gary Hare (born February 21, 1949) is an American politician who was United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. ...

. Sullivan was unopposed for reelection in 2008. In 2012, Sullivan handily defeated Adams County Clerk

Randy Frese Randy Frese is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives who represents the 94th district. The 94th district, located in Western Illinois along the Mississippi River, includes all or parts of Adams, Henderson, Hancock and Wa ...

. Senator Sullivan was Vice Chair of the Agriculture & Conservation committee and served on five other committees; Energy, Higher Education, Revenue, Transportation and Insurance. Senator Sullivan currently serves a Majority Whip. Proving just how Republican Sullivan's district was at most levels, for his entire tenure his associated Representatives in Districts 93 and 94 were both Republicans. In Illinois, state house districts are formed by dividing senate districts in half. This gave Sullivan the distinction of being the only State Senator to have two associated Representatives from the opposite party. On June 19, 2015, he announced that he would be retiring from the Illinois Senate at the end of his term in 2017. Underlining the Republican bent of his district, Republican

Jil Tracy Jil Tracy is a Republican member of the Illinois State Senate, representing the 47th District since January 11, 2017. The district covers a large swath of west-central Illinois, including all of Adams, Brown, Cass, Hancock, Henderson, Mason, McD ...

, who formerly represented District 93—the western portion of the Senate district—won the seat unopposed.

Post legislative career

In 2017, John Sullivan was named by

J.B. Pritzker Jay Robert "J. B." Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and politician serving as the List of governors of Illinois, 43rd governor of Illinois since 2019. A member of the wealthy Pritzker fami ...

the co-chair of the latter's Agriculture Transition Committee. After the transition, it was announced on December 27, 2018 that Sullivan would be the next director of the

. He will succeed

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...

-appointee Ray Poe. In January 2020, John Sullivan resigned from being Secretary of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Election history

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at the 98th Illinois General Assembly **By session
98th97th96th95th94th93rd
*
Senator John M. Sullivan
at Illinois Senate Democrats {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, John M. 1959 births Democratic Party Illinois state senators Living people People from Macomb, Illinois Quincy University alumni 21st-century American politicians People from Rushville, Illinois State cabinet secretaries of Illinois