Omar Aquino (born June 24, 1987) is an American politician serving as a 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 2nd district. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he was elected in the March 2016 Democratic primary and appointed to the seat effective July 1, 2016, following the retirement of

William Delgado William "Willie" Delgado (born October 31, 1956) is a former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 2nd district from 2006 until June 2016. He was first elected in 2006, replacing Miguel del Valle, who was elected Chicago Ci ...

. Sworn into office at age 29, he is the youngest-ever Latino member of the Illinois State Senate and one of the youngest state senators in Illinois history. Previously, he served as an aide to Congresswoman

Tammy Duckworth Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Ill ...

Early life and career

Aquino was born and raised on the Northwest Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Of Puerto Rican descent, both of his parents were public workers, his mother working for the

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...

and his father for the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation. Aquino graduated from Lincoln Park High School and

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

with both a Bachelor of Science in

Criminal Justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

and a Bachelor of Arts in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

in 2009.

Public service

Aquino worked as a bilingual case manager with the

Illinois Department on Aging The Illinois Department on Aging is the code department of the Illinois state government that exercises, administers, and enforces all rights, powers, and duties vested in it by the Illinois Act on the Aging. As of March 2019 Paula A. Basta beca ...

, serving low income elderly clients in Chicago as part of the Community Care Program. He went on to serve as a Legislative Aide 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 ...

, and most recently as an Outreach Coordinator for Congresswoman

2015 aldermanic campaign

Chicago conducted redistricting following the 2010 census, and a new Latino ward was created, the 36th Ward. Aquino decided to run for this open seat in the Chicago aldermanic elections, 2015. While he received the largest number of votes in the February election, there was an April runoff between Aquino and

Gilbert Villegas Gilbert Villegas (born in Chicago on October 26, 1970) is a Marine Veteran and served during the Gulf War. He's an American politician serving as a member of the Chicago City Council from the 36th ward. The 36th ward includes Belmont-Cragin, Gal ...

. Aquino lost the election to Villegas by 938 votes.

State Senator

Aquino announced in January 2016 he was running for the 2nd District State Senate seat that was being vacated by

. He ran with the endorsement of Delgado himself, most of the committeemen and elected officials in the district, as well as many labor and progressive groups including the

Chicago Teachers Union The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has consistently fought for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, an ...

and

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of member ...

. He won the March 2016 primary against

Noble Network of Charter Schools Noble Schools, (formerly known as the Noble Network of Charter Schools and as Noble Street Charter School) is an open enrollment, public charter network of high schools and middle schools serving students throughout Chicago. Noble was co-founded ...

employee Angelica Alfaro by a 53% to 47% margin. As Delgado decided to retire from the seat early, Aquino was appointed to the seat effective July 1, 2016. As of July 2022, Senator Aquino is a member of the following Illinois Senate committees: * (Chairman of) Appropriations - General Services Committee (SAPP-SAGS) * Appropriations Committee (SAPP) * Education Committee (SESE) * Energy and Public Utilities Committee (SENE) * Executive Committee (SEXC) * Executive Appointments Committee (SEXA) * Executive - Elections Committee (SEXC-SEOE) * (Chairman of) Executive - Procurement Committee (SEXC-SEOP) * Higher Education Committee (SCHE) * Human Rights Committee (SHUM) * (Chairman of) Redistricting Committee (SRED) * Redistricting - Chicago Northwest Committee (SRED-SRNW)

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at

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 ...

**By session
99thState Senator Omar Aquino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aquino, Omar 1987 births 2020 United States presidential electors 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Puerto Rican descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Illinois Democratic Party Illinois state senators Living people Loyola University Chicago alumni Politicians from Chicago Puerto Rican people in Illinois politics