Jan Schakowsky

Janice Schakowsky (née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative from Illinois's 9th congressional district since 1999.

She is a member of the Democratic Party.

The district is anchored in Chicago's North Side, including much of the area bordering Lake Michigan.

Schakowsky was born Janice Danoff in 1944 in Chicago, the daughter of Tillie (née Cosnow) and Irwin Danoff.

Her parents were Jewish immigrants, her father a Lithuanian Jew and her mother from Russia.

Schakowsky graduated with a Bachelor of Science in elementary education from the University of Illinois, where she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority.

Sidney Yates, who had represented the 9th district since 1949 (except for one term due unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1962), announced in 1996 that he would not seek reelection in 1998.

Schakowsky easily won the Democratic primary, which all but assured her of election in the heavily Democratic 9th.

She beat out then-Illinois State Senator Howard W. Carroll and future Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker in the primary (who finished second and third, respectively).

She won in November with 75% of the vote and was reelected 12 times.

Schakowsky is among the most progressive members of the current U.S. Congress.

She is an executive board member at large of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Schakowsky was Program Director of Illinois Public Action, Illinois's largest public interest group, from 1976 to 1985.

In 1986, Schakowsky ran for the Cook County Board of Commissioners from suburban Cook County.

She won the primary to be one of the Democratic nominees, but did not win in the general election.

She then moved to the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens as executive director until 1990, when she was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the fourth district.

In 1992, she was redistricted to the 18th district.

She served there until 1998.

The Nation endorsed Schakowsky for vice president in the 2004 United States presidential election, writing that she was "the truest heir to Paul Wellstone in the current Congress".

She was not selected as John Kerry's running mate.

Schakowsky was one of 31 House Democrats who voted to not count Ohio's 20 electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election.

President George W. Bush won Ohio by 118,457 votes.

Without Ohio's electoral votes, the election would have been decided by the House of Representatives, with each state having one vote in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

She was one of the earliest and most emphatic supporters of U.S. Senator Barack Obama before he won the 2004 Illinois Democratic primary election, and actively supported his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

In hearings held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee in July 2006, Schakowsky expressed concern that a report from the National Academy of Sciences showing discrepancies among scientists studying global warming might be "used in a way to discredit the whole notion that our country and the rest of the industrialized and developing world ought to do anything about global warming".

Schakowsky indicated interest in replacing Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

Before his arrest, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had reportedly been considering her among at least six other candidates to fill the vacancy.

Schakowsky was one of the first figures in Illinois to voice interest in running in a special election to replace Obama.

On February 7, 2007, she introduced the Iraq and Afghanistan Contractor Sunshine Act (H.R. 897) in the House of Representatives, seeking information from leading federal agencies on their contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bill was not enacted.

In April 2009, Schakowsky pointedly criticized the tax day Tea Party protests: "It's despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt."

As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, Schakowsky has been known for her support of women's issues.

Schakowsky was outspoken in her opposition to the Iraq War.

In April 2009, she stated her support for a public option in health insurance, arguing that it would put health insurance companies out of business and lead to single-payer health care, which she supports.

It also includes many of Chicago's northern suburbs, including Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glenview, Kenilworth, Mount Prospect, Niles, Park Ridge, Rosemont, Skokie, Wilmette, and Winnetka, as of the decennial redistricting following the 2010 United States census.

In March 2015, the Orthodox Union criticized Schakowsky after she said that Jewish politician Joel Pollak was a "Jewish, Orthodox, Tea Party Republican" at a J Street event.

She later apologized for her comments.

In 2015, Schakowsky was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community.

In February 2021, she voted for the Equality Act on behalf of her transgender grandson Isaac.

In March 2015, Schakowsky did not attend Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress because, she wrote in the Huffington Post, it could scuttle delicate negotiations with Iran: "The prime minister wants the negotiations to end, and his purpose in speaking to the Congress is to convince us that the president is about to agree to a deal that threatens Israel's existence. He believes the president is naïve in thinking that he and the P5+1 can achieve any agreement that will stop Iran from rushing toward a bomb ... What is the alternative to an agreement? Yes, the United States will increase sanctions. But does anyone doubt that Iran will build a nuclear weapon regardless of sanctions? Then the choices will be ugly: accepting a nuclear-weaponized Iran or accepting military action (i.e., war with Iran). For me it's obvious that we must give the negotiations a chance.