There has not been a meteorologist who has served in Congress in about half a century, said Eric Sorensen, an openly gay meteorologist who previously worked in broadcasting in various markets in northwest Illinois.
"With all the climate change challenges that we have, we need a meteorologist," Sorensen told Windy City Times. He is currently running for the 17th congressional district seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, who announced her retirement in April 2021.
Bustos' announcement coincided with a pivotal moment for Sorensen, who lives in Moline and had been a broadcast meteorologist there for 11 years.
"Everybody in television has their 'contract year,' and [2021] was the year for me," he recalled. "I had to think about, 'Where am I called to serve?' I had to do a lot of soul-searching to be able to say, 'I have accomplished all of the things I want to do in my career in 22 years, but now I feel that, [since] the community has continued to support me all this time, I need to continue to support them."
He speaks fondly his broadcasting career in Illinois. In the early '00s, Sorensen took a $12,000 pay cut to take a job in Rockford, his hometown, a few years after his employers at a Texas station told him he had to remain closeted in order to keep his job. He was already out to his family, and was determined not to hide his sexuality from the public any more.
"There's something about working in your hometown," he said. "I couldn't not be myself, because I was reporting the weather not only to my community, but my family. I was my authentic self. You know what happened? Nobody cared. Everyone accepted me."
Sorensen has been equally out since moving to Moline: "People know the name of my partner here, and the names of our two dogs."
Beyond climate change, Sorensen is now campaigning on a platform that includes strengthening healthcare access, investing in education resources, creating sustainable jobs and continuing to address the COVID-19 pandemic. He's especially passionate about connecting with students, he said, noting that the young people of today may just be the generation that makes discoveries for tornado detection or cancer cures, for example.
"Who is it going to be that does that?" Sorensen asked. "It's somebody who could be in a fifth-grade class today. We've got to make sure that we make it so that they have every opportunity. I don't want to see one child fall through the cracks. … Education is super-important to me."
Sorensen has also served on the boards of Clock, Inc., an LGBTQ community center in Rock Island, Illinois; and The Project of the Quad Cities, a Moline-based mental-health services agency focused on people living with HIV as well as LGBTQ community members and people impacted by crime.
"I've always been connected to what's going on in my community," he said. "That's because I've been [a] witness to just about every newscast, every day. … I've been the meteorologist who has played backup to the local newscasters, and been understanding of what's going on."
See ericforillinois.com .