Ram Villivalam is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for the 8th district. The 8th Senate District consists of the Forest Glen, North Park and West Ridge neighborhoods in the

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

and the nearby suburbs of Park Ridge,

Morton Grove Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 25,297. The village is named after former United States Vice President Levi Parsons Morton, who helped finance the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railr ...

, Niles, Lincolnwood and Skokie, as of the decennial

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

following the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

. After

Ira Silverstein Ira I. Silverstein (born October 10, 1960) is a former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 8th district from 1999 to 2019. The 8th Senate District consists of Forest Glen, North Park and West Ridge in the City of Chic ...

was accused of sexual misconduct by a lobbyist, Villivalam announced that he would run against Silverstein in the

Democratic primary This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Uni ...

. Villivalam was endorsed by Congresswoman

Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

, Congressman Brad Schneider, State Senator

Laura Murphy Laura M. Murphy is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate representing the 28th district since October 2015. The 28th district includes all or parts of Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Bloomingdale, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Hanover Pa ...

, and Chicago Alderman

Ameya Pawar Ameya Pawar (born April 22, 1980) is an American politician who served as the alderman for the 47th Ward of the City of Chicago. He was first elected in the 2011 municipal elections, and was elected to a second term on February 24, 2015. Pawar's ...

. In the March 20, 2018 Democratic primary, Villivalam defeated the incumbent Ira Silverstein by more than 20 points in the first competitive primary the latter had faced since taking the seat. Silverstein resigned a few days before the start of the 101st General Assembly, allowing Villivalam to be sworn on January 5, 2019. Villivalam is the first Asian American and first Indian American elected to the Illinois Senate. Prior to joining the Illinois Senate, Villivalam was the former political director for Brad Schneider and former legislative coordinator for SEIU Healthcare-Illinois. In September 2019, Villivalam succeeded Robert Murphy as the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

committeeperson for Chicago's 39th ward. As of July 2022, Senator Villivalam is a member of the following Illinois Senate committees: * (Chairman of) Appropriations - Government Infrastructure Committee (SAPP-SAGI) * Appropriations - Human Services Committee (SENE) * Healthcare Access and Availability Committee (SHAA) * Human Rights Committee (SHUM) * Licensed Activities Committee (SLIC) * Licensed Activities - Special Issues Committee (SLIC-SLSI) * Pensions Committee (SPEN) * (Chairman of) Redistricting - Chicago Northwest Committee (SRED-SRNW) * (Chairman of) Transportation Committee (STRN)

Notes

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villivalam, Ram Year of birth missing (living people) American politicians of Indian descent Asian-American state legislators in Illinois 21st-century American politicians Living people Service Employees International Union people Democratic Party Illinois state senators Politicians from Chicago George Washington University alumni