James Clayborne Jr. (born December 29, 1963) was a member of the Illinois Senate representing the 57th District from his appointment in 1995 until 2019. The 57th District, located in the Metro East region includes all or parts of Freeburg, Belleville,

East St. Louis East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, O'Fallon,

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, Fairview Heights, Shiloh and

Scott Air Force Base Scott Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville and O'Fallon, east-southeast of downtown St. Louis. Scott Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the ...

. At the time of his retirement, Clayborne was the second highest-ranking member of the Illinois Senate as the Senate Majority Leader. On September 21, 2017, Clayborne announced he would not run for reelection in 2018. He was succeeded by

Christopher Belt Christopher Belt is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for the 57th district. The 57th District, located in the Metro East region includes all or parts of Freeburg, Belleville, East St. Louis, O'Fallon, Madison, Fairview Heights, ...

Early life and career

Senator Clayborne was born and raised in East St. Louis. After graduating from East St. Louis High School, he earned a Bachelor of Science from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

and later a law degree from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. While at the University of Miami, he met his future wife Staci, with whom he now has four sons. He went on to serve as an assistant state’s attorney in St. Clair County as well as a child support prosecutor, a supervisor in the St. Clair County Juvenile Abuse and Neglect Division, a supervisor in Felony Probation Revocations and a felony prosecutor. He also was one of 50 attorneys selected nationwide to participate in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Law Institute in Quantico, Virginia. He later chose to enter private practice

Illinois Senate

In 1995, Clayborne was appointed to complete the term of longtime Senator Kenneth Hall and was later elected in his own right in 1996. In 2009, he became the Senate Majority Leader after finishing second to

John Cullerton John J. Cullerton (born October 28, 1948) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 6th district from his appointment in 1991 to 2020. He served as President of the Illinois Senate from ...

in the race for Senate President. Clayborne is the current chair of the Assignments Committee as well as the committees on Energy, Executive Appointments, Insurance, Public Pensions & State Investments and the subcommittees on Governmental Operations and Constitutional Amendments. Clayborne also served as a

delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (Unit ...

to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Clayborne was succeed in the Illinois Senate by Christopher Belt and as Majority Leader by

Kimberly A. Lightford Kimberly Ann Lightford (born May 10, 1968) is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 4th district since 1998. She is Senate Majority Leader and also serves on Labor, Education, Executive, Financial Institutions and Redistr ...

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at the Illinois General Assembly **By session
99th98th97th96th95th94th93rdIllinois Senate Majority Leader James F. Clayborne Jr.
legislative website
Senator James F. Clayborne Jr.
at Illinois Senate Democrats * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayborne, James Jr. 1963 births 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians African-American state legislators in Illinois Democratic Party Illinois state senators Living people People from Belleville, Illinois Tennessee State University alumni University of Miami School of Law alumni