Michael Madigan

The elder Michael Madigan later worked for 25 years as the 13th Ward superintendent for the City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation.

Michael Joseph Madigan (born April 19, 1942) is an American politician who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Madigan was born on April 19, 1942, and was raised in the Clearing neighborhood of Chicago.

Madigan graduated from Saint Adrian's Elementary School, St. Ignatius College Prep on the west side of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame.

In 1965, while a first-year law student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Madigan purchased a membership in the Lake Shore Club and introduced himself to Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley as Michael Madigan's son.

Within months, at Madigan's father's request, Mayor Daley appointed Madigan to a summer job with the city law department between his first and second years of law school.

Madigan also met Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, while both were law students.

Madigan's father suffered a heart attack at age 58, and a fatal heart attack at age 60, in 1966.

Madigan graduated from Loyola Law School in 1967.

Madigan and Neil Hartigan worked together in the city law department.

Madigan and Richard M. Daley were both delegates to the 1969-70 Illinois Constitutional convention (which wrote the current Constitution of Illinois, adopted after Illinois voters approved it in the 1970 special election), and became good friends.

In 1969 the 13th Ward precinct captains elected Madigan their committeeman, making him, at age 27, the youngest ward committeeman in Chicago at the time.

Madigan's ward organization has been called the most disciplined in Chicago.

He served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021.

He represented the 27th District from 1971 to 1983, the 30th district from 1983 to 1993, and the 22nd district from 1993 to 2021.

This made him the body's longest-serving member and the last legislator elected before the Cutback Amendment.

In 1972, Madigan founded the private law firm of Madigan and Getzendanner with Vincent J. "Bud" Getzendanner Jr., a fellow Loyola law graduate, one year his senior.

In 1976, Madigan married Shirley Murray, a divorced law firm receptionist with a young daughter, Lisa, whom Madigan adopted; Lisa later became Attorney General of Illinois in 2003.

Madigan joined Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne in endorsing Alderman Edward M. Burke in the 1980 Democratic primary race for Cook County State's Attorney, over Madigan's friend Richard M. Daley.

He was the longest-serving leader of any state or federal legislative body in the history of the United States, having held the position for all but two years from 1983 to 2021.

In 1986 Madigan urged Adlai Stevenson III to enter the Democratic primary for Illinois governor.

Hartigan withdrew and Stevenson won the primary and was defeated by James R. Thompson for the second time.

In 1998 the Illinois Democratic Party's Central Committee elected Madigan chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

Madigan succeeded his protégé and former chief of staff, Gary LaPaille.

Madigan fired the state party staff, closed its headquarters in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and moved it to Springfield, Illinois, to the same office building as his campaign finance committee staff.

Chicago Magazine named Madigan as the fourth most powerful Chicagoan in 2012 and as the second in both 2013 and 2014, earning him the nickname "the Velvet Hammer—a.k.a. the Real Governor of Illinois."

Rich Miller, editor of Illinois political newsletter the Capitol Fax, wrote, "the pile of political corpses outside Madigan's Statehouse door of those who tried to beat him one way or another is a mile high and a mile wide."

He was frequently considered the state's political boss and controlled all redistricting in the state for several decades, as well as being chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois for over 20 years.

Madigan's patronage network in state and local bodies was extensive.

On January 11, 2021, Madigan announced he would be suspending his effort to be elected to a nineteenth term as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and on January 13, he was replaced by fellow Democrat Chris Welch.

Madigan announced that he would resign as state representative effective at the end of February.

On February 18, he announced that his resignation would take effect that same day.

On March 2, 2022, Madigan was indicted on federal racketeering charges.

He is set to stand on trial in April 2024.

Madigan's father, Michael, was "a very strong Democrat, he was a product of the Depression ... He carried with him very strong feelings in favor of many of the enactments of the New Deal."

Michael J. Flynn was the Cook County Clerk, and also the Democratic committeeman of Chicago's 13th Ward, an unpaid, political-party leadership position.

Madigan's father was a precinct captain in the 13th Ward and worked in the Cook County Clerk's office, where he befriended a young Richard J. Daley, who would later succeed Flynn as County Clerk prior to running for mayor of Chicago.

Madigan later characterized the relationship between his father and Richard J. Daley as "political friends."

Madigan's position as the Democratic Party Chair was challenged by Mateusz Tomkowiak during the March 2018 Democratic primary for state central committeeman of the 3rd Congressional District.

On February 22, 2021, Madigan resigned as chairman.