Jan Schakowsky
Janice Schakowsky (/ʃəˈkaʊski/ shə-KOW-skee; 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.
Jan Schakowsky
8th district (1993–1999)
4th district (1991–1993)
2 (with Schakowsky)
The district is anchored in Chicago's North Side, including much of the area bordering Lake Michigan. 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.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Schakowsky was born Janice Danoff in 1944 in Chicago, the daughter of Tillie (née Cosnow) and Irwin Danoff.[2] Her parents were Jewish immigrants, her father a Lithuanian Jew and her mother from Russia.[2][3]
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.[4]
Early career[edit]
Schakowsky was Program Director of Illinois Public Action, Illinois's largest public interest group, from 1976 to 1985. 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.[5]
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.[6][7]
U.S. House of Representatives[edit]
1998 election[edit]
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.[8] 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.
Tenure[edit]
Schakowsky is among the most progressive members of the current U.S. Congress.[9] She is an executive board member at large of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.[10]
Personal life[edit]
Schakowsky lives in Evanston, Illinois, with her husband Robert Creamer. She has two children and a stepchild.[78]
In 2005, Creamer pleaded guilty to failure to collect withholding tax and to bank fraud for writing checks with insufficient funds. All the money was repaid. Schakowsky was not accused of wrongdoing.[79] While she served on the organization's board during the time the crimes occurred,[80] and signed the IRS filings along with Creamer,[81] the U.S. district judge noted that no one suffered "out of pocket losses", and Creamer acted not out of greed but in an effort to keep his community action group going without cutting programs, though he paid his own $100,000 salary with fraudulently obtained funds. Creamer served five months in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ferguson said the government did not believe Creamer "acknowledged the seriousness of his conduct". "At the end of the day", Ferguson said, "Robert Creamer is guilty of multiple crimes and is going to jail for it".[82]
On July 20, 2022, Schakowsky was arrested in front of the Supreme Court building after she and 33 others, including 15 members of Congress, allegedly refused to comply with orders to stop blocking traffic. She uploaded a clip of it to Twitter, adding: "Today, I am making good trouble."[83]