William "Willie" Delgado (born October 31, 1956) is a former 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 ...

, representing the 2nd district from 2006 until June 2016. He was first elected in 2006, replacing

Miguel del Valle Miguel del Valle (born July 24, 1951) is an American politician and the former City Clerk of Chicago. He was an Illinois State Senator for two decades, representing the 2nd District of Chicago from 1987–2006. Del Valle lost his bid for mayor ...

, who was elected

Chicago City Clerk The City Clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for the city of Chicago and its elections. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the City Clerk serves as council secretary. This position is a citywide elected office, one of three ...

. Previously, Delgado 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 ...

from 1999–2006 and was replaced by

Luis Arroyo Luis Enrique "Tite" Arroyo, (February 18, 1927 – January 13, 2016) was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1955 to 1963. Arroyo was the first Puerto Rican player to appear for the New York Yankees and was a key part of their pennant winning s ...

. On January 5, 2015, Delgado announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the Illinois Senate. He retired from the seat effective June 30, 2016.

Early life

Delgado was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He graduated from Tilden High School and

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, with a minor in Sociology. Upon graduation, he married his high school sweetheart Iris Santiago. They have two children.

Public service

Delgado began his career coordinating youth programs for the West Town

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, the Mayor's Office of Summer Employment and Training and the Association House of Chicago. With each of these organizations, Delgado's main responsibility was youth outreach. He later served as a Youth and Family Counselor, then as Probation and Parole Officer in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. When he returned to Chicago, he continued his community service at the Department of Children and Family Services. Delgado was active in statewide politics as well. He served as Hispanic Liaison for former Attorney General

Roland Burris Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is an American politician and attorney who is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party. In 1978, Burris was the first African American elected to ...

and Latino Liaison during the 1994 campaign of gubernatorial candidate

Dawn Clark Netsch Dawn Clark Netsch (September 16, 1926 – March 5, 2013) was an American professor of law at Northwestern University and an Illinois politician. A member of the Democratic Party in the United States, she served in the Illinois State Senate fr ...

. While with Attorney General Burris, Delgado organized and implemented the "Gun Turn in Day" program, which led to the removal of more than 142 illegal firearms from the streets of Chicago. The five years prior to his election as representative, Delgado worked as Director of Community Services for State Senator

. Delgado was endorsed by the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America in 1996 as a member of The New Party and candidate to win the Democratic ballot line for the Illinois House of Representatives in the 3rd District on the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

of Chicago. He was endorsed due to his longtime standing as a community activist with an academic background in criminal justice and social work.

State Representative

Delgado was first elected in 1998. Delgado's top legislative priorities are education reform, economic development, and crime prevention. He is working to develop school safety initiatives to keep drugs and guns out of local classrooms. Delgado also supports reducing class sizes, improving classroom discipline, and increasing state support for school construction grant funding. Delgado also highlights his work as "champion of health and physical fitness issues." He has sponsored legislation to see that physical fitness is emphasized in schools statewide. Representative Delgado serves on seven committees: Appropriations for Elementary and Secondary Education; Fee for Service Initiatives; Human Services; Judiciary II- Criminal Law; KidCare; Managing Sex Offender Issues; and Registration and Regulation.

State Senator

William Delgado was appointed Illinois State Senator, by the former State Senator

. Del Valle was appointed as

City Clerk of Chicago The City Clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for the city of Chicago and its elections. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the City Clerk serves as council secretary. This position is a citywide elected office, one of three ...

by Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at the 99th Illinois General Assembly **By session
99th98th97th96th95th94th93rdIllinois State Senator William Delgado
legislative website
Senator William Delgado
at Illinois Senate Democrats * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, William Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives 1956 births Living people Northeastern Illinois University alumni 21st-century American politicians Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Illinois