CHICAGO — The Equality Illinois Political Action Committee (PAC) has issued its final endorsements of candidates running for office in the March 20, 2012 primary election who have indicated strong support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues.
"After meeting and talking with so many talented candidates for public office, we are extremely pleased with our slate of endorsed candidates in such an important election year for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement," Jeremy Gottschalk, President of Equality Illinois PAC Board of Directors, said.
ENDORSED CANDIDATES FOR STATE SENATE:
SENATE DISTRICT 9
Daniel Biss
SENATE DISTRICT 15
Donna Miller
SENATE DISTRICT 23
Thomas Cullerton
SENATE DISTRICT 25
Steven Hunter
Corinne Pierog
SENATE DISTRICT 29
Julie Morrison
ENDORSED CANDIDATES FOR STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
HOUSE DISTRICT 7
Rory Hoskins
Emanuel "Chris" Welch
HOUSE DISTRICT 10
Rep. Derrick Smith
HOUSE DISTRICT 11
Rep. Ann Williams
HOUSE DISTRICT 17
Laura Fine
HOUSE DISTRICT 19
Robert Martwick
HOUSE DISTRICT 21
Rudy Lozano
HOUSE DISTRICT 26
Christian Mitchell
HOUSE DISTRICT 34
Elgie Sims
HOUSE DISTRICT 45
JoAnn Franzen
HOUSE DISTRICT 50
Andrew Bernard
HOUSE DISTRICT 62
Sam Yingling
HOUSE DISTRICT 71
Mike Smiddy
HOUSE DISTRICT 84
Alex Arroyo
Carole Cheney
ENDORSED CANDIDATE FOR COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY:
State's Attorney Anita Alvarez
ENDORSED CANDIDATE FOR COOK COUNTY RECORDER OF DEEDS:
Karen Yarbrough
ENDORSED CANDIDATE FOR METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT COMMISSIONER:
Commissioner Debra Shore
Early endorsements for legislative races were issued on January 3rd and were based on candidates' previous voting records on important LGBT issues. Today's round of endorsements for candidates without prior voting records was based on answers to Equality Illinois PAC's endorsement questionnaire, personal interviews, and community input. For a copy of EQILPAC's early endorsements, please email Director of Public Policy Randy Hannig at rhannig@eqil.org .
Equality Illinois PAC is a registered political action committee and an affiliate of Equality Illinois, a 501(c)(4) organization. Equality Illinois was founded in 1991 to secure, protect and defend full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. It is the state's oldest and largest LGBT advocacy organization.