51 House Democrats back Madigan for speaker in caucus vote

See who your representative backed in a historic fight for the Illinois House speakership.

Update: On Jan. 13, Illinois House Democrats elected state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch as House speaker. This article describes an internal caucus vote taken prior to Madigan’s suspension of his campaign for speaker Jan. 11.

An internal caucus vote on Sunday put Michael Madigan nine votes short of the 60 he needs for a 19th term as speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.

But it also revealed he enjoyed support from a majority of House Democrats.

The floor vote for speaker will not take place until immediately after the 102nd General Assembly is sworn in on Jan. 13. Ahead of that official vote, which will include House Republicans, House Democrats on Jan. 10 held an internal caucus vote to decide the next speaker. Madigan suspended his campaign for speaker after coming up short, but has not officially withdrawn.

Madigan is the target of a wide-ranging federal corruption investigation, which has resulted in four indictments and Commonwealth Edison agreeing to pay a $200 million fine for a yearslong scheme to curry favor with the speaker through $1.3 million in no-work contracts and patronage jobs to Madigan’s closest allies. Madigan has denied wrongdoing, and said he considers helping constituents find jobs to be part of his public service.

Madigan is the longest-serving speaker in American history, and has consolidated unprecedented power through parliamentary rules, control of the Illinois Democratic Party purse strings, and preventing good-government reforms, such as independently drawn political maps. Since he became speaker in 1983, Illinois’ credit rating has fallen from the highest possible score to the worst in the nation – driven primarily by unsustainable pension promises made to his allies in government worker unions.

The internal vote for speaker broke down as follows:

• 51 votes for Madigan
• 18 for Chicago state Rep. Ann Williams
• Three votes for Aurora state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit
• One present vote: state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago

With no candidate commanding the 60 votes necessary to hold the speaker’s gavel, House Democrats may hold additional further internal votes ahead of inauguration day.

The following list is based on previously released statements, news reports and Statehouse sources. Illinoisans can use Illinois Policy’s Take Action tool to find and contact their state representative.

Votes for Madigan (51)
Carol Ammons
Jaime Andrade
Dagmara Avelar
Kam Buckner
Kelly Burke
Lakesia Collins
Fred Crespo
John D’Amico
William Davis
Anthony DeLuca
Marcus Evans
Mary Flowers
La Shawn Ford
Edgar Gonzalez
Jehan Gordon-Booth
LaToya Greenwood
Michael Halpin
Sonya Harper
Greg Harris
Barbara Hernandez
Elizabeth Hernandez
Maura Hirschauer
Jay Hoffman
Frances Ann Hurley
Thaddeus Jones
Camille Lilly
Michael Madigan
Theresa Mah
Natalie Manley
Joyce Mason
Rita Mayfield
Debbie Meyers-Martin
Martin Moylan
Aaron Ortiz
Delia Ramirez
Robert Rita
Lamont Robinson
Sue Scherer
Justin Slaughter
Nicholas Smith
Katie Stuart
Curtis Tarver
André Thapedi
Dave Vella
Mark Walker
Lawrence Walsh
Emanuel Chris Welch
Jawaharial Williams
Janet Yang Rohr
Lance Yednock
Michael J. Zalewski

Votes for Williams (18)
Jonathan Carroll
Deb Conroy
Margaret Croke
Daniel Didech
Will Guzzardi
Eva-Dina Delgado
Robyn Gabel
Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz
Terra Costa Howard
Lindsey LaPointe
Anna Moeller
Bob Morgan
Suzanne Ness
Denyse Wang Stoneback
Maurice West
Ann Williams
Kathleen Willis
Sam Yingling

Votes for Kifowit (3)
Stephanie Kifowit
Michelle Mussman
Anne Stava-Murray

Present votes (1)
Kelly Cassidy