Aaron Schock

He was the first member of the U.S. Congress born in the 1980s as well as the first millennial member of Congress; when he took his seat in 2009 he was the youngest member of Congress, at age 27.

Previously, Schock had served two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, also as its youngest member.

Aaron Jon Schock (born May 28, 1981) is a former American politician who was Republican U.S. Representative for IL's 18th congressional district from 2009 until 2015.

The district is based in Peoria and includes part of Springfield.

In 1995, he was elected to the executive board of the Illinois Association of Junior High Student Councils.

Schock attended Richwoods High School.

By his junior year of high school, he had completed nearly all of his graduation requirements, and had few course options available because the school district had recently discontinued most of the Advanced Placement and other advanced courses due to budget cuts.

School district policy did not allow him to graduate early, and the board members refused his requests to change the policy.

He began attending classes at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, earning dual credits toward high school and college graduation.

He graduated from high school in 2000.

Schock received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bradley University in 2002, with a major in finance.

On July 2, 2003, his fellow board members elected him vice president of the board, on a vote of 4–3.

Schock sold his Garage Tek franchise in 2004 before running for state representative.

Schock decided to run for the Peoria Board of Education a few months after graduating from high school because he felt the board needed a more diverse and youthful perspective.

After he did not get on the ballot because he did not have the required number of valid signatures on his petition to run for office, he organized a successful write-in campaign, using more than 200 volunteers who visited more than 13,000 households.

He defeated the incumbent with 57% of the vote; at age 19, he was the youngest person serving on a school board in Illinois.

On July 2, 2004, his fellow board members unanimously elected him school board president, making him, at 23, the youngest school board president in Illinois history.

At the age of 23, Schock ran for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives.

In the November 2004 general election, he defeated four-term incumbent Democrat Ricca Slone, by just 235 votes out of 40,000 ballots cast, and became the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly in state history.

Five months after taking the office, he resigned from the school board to focus on his job as a state legislator.

When Schock ran for reelection in 2006, he defeated Democrat Bill Spears, winning 58 percent of the total vote.

He received more than 40 percent of the African-American vote in his district, despite his opposition to race-based affirmative action.

During his four years in the state legislature, Schock served on two appropriations committees that were "typically reserved for more senior lawmakers", as well as the Financial Institutions, Environment & Energy and Veteran's Affairs committees.

Schock was the chief sponsor of 38 bills, of which 13 became law.

The bills dealt with education, child protection, prescription drug savings, veterans' assistance, road construction and high-tech identity theft.

Another bill, co-sponsored with Democrat Dave Koehler, expanded the taxation area for the Peoria Airport.

Schock resigned from Congress in March 2015 amid a scandal involving his use of public and campaign funds.

A subsequent congressional ethics investigation "revealed that he used taxpayer money to fund lavish trips and events".

In November 2016, a federal grand jury indicted him in connection with the scandal.

In his speech announcing his candidacy for Illinois's 18th congressional district, to succeed retiring incumbent Republican congressman Ray LaHood, Schock said,

"If China continues to be irresponsible about nuclear proliferation in Iran, we should tell them that ... we will sell Pershing nuclear missiles to Taiwan for their defense. Nonproliferation will either be enforced universally or not at all – it is their choice. The Chinese will come around, I have no doubt."

His campaign manager described the policy as "well thought out" and Schock first defended the remarks, but Schock later said it was "more in jest" and that he had made a mistake.

After he pled not guilty, prosecutors reached a deferred prosecution agreement with him in March 2019 whereby all charges against him were dropped in return for a period of good behavior and payment of $100,000 in restitution.

As part of the deal, Schock's campaign committee, Schock for Congress, also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of failing to properly report expenses.

Despite having a voting record of consistently opposing LGBTQ rights, Schock came out as gay in March 2020 and expressed regret for some of his previous policy decisions.

Schock was born in Morris, Minnesota, the youngest of the four children of Janice Marie (née Joos), a homemaker, and Richard Schock, a family practice physician and former school board member.

During his early years, the family lived on a rural farm site where the children were given the responsibility of tending a three-acre patch of strawberries and selling the fruit.

When he was in fourth grade, his family moved to Peoria.

During his time in the state legislature, Schock was involved with Youth for a Cause, Peoria Mayor's Vision 2020, the Peoria Chamber of Commerce, Heart of Illinois Kids Count, St. Jude Telethon V.I.P. and medical mission trips to Mexico and Jamaica.

During his second term as state representative, Schock worked as Director of Development and Construction for Petersen Companies of Peoria,