Louanner Peters is a former deputy governor of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. She was appointed by then-Governor

Rod Blagojevich Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...

in December 2006, becoming the first African-American woman to hold the position. Peters grew up on a farm in

Angie, Louisiana Angie is a village in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 240 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Angie was named for Angeline Bateman McMillan, an elderly member of ...

, and was the ninth of twelve children. She earned a Bachelor's degree in political science at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 1971, and a Master's degree at the

Jane Addams College of Social Work Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

of the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

in 1973. She served as chief of staff for U.S. Representative

Gus Savage Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was an American entrepreneur, publisher and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. Life and career Savage was born in Detroit, M ...

for 10 years starting in 1981. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, she unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for

Illinois's 2nd congressional district Illinois's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Illinois. Based in the south suburbs of Chicago, the district includes southern Cook county, eastern Will county, and Kankakee county, as well as the city o ...

. She then did campaign work for Washington D.C. mayors

Marion Barry Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as the second and fourth mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democrat, Barry had served ...

and Anthony Williams, and for Blagojevich on a contractual basis. She was hired as Blagojevich's deputy chief of staff for social services in 2003, and was promoted to deputy governor in 2006. According to an anonymous source, Peters is said to be the person referred to as "Senate Candidate 4" in the Blagojevich criminal complaint. In a private conversation, Blagojevich considered appointing Senate Candidate 4 to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's U.S. Senate seat because he believed he could "count on enate Candidate 4 if things got hot, to give he Senate seatup and let me parachute over there."

Notes

Living people Louisiana State University alumni University of Illinois Chicago alumni African-American people in Illinois politics African-American women in politics Women in Illinois politics Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women {{Illinois-politician-stub