Debbie Halvorson is one of the most senior and successful elected officials in Illinois. The first woman to serve as Majority Leader of the State Senate, Halvorson is known in the state as an elected official who gets results. That reputation will certainly help her bid to replace retiring Republican Rep. Jerry Weller in the Illinois 11th.

Debbie is a lifelong resident of the 11th congressional district. She grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and currently lives in the village of Crete in eastern Will county. Her experience includes 14 years as a small businesswoman and three years as the Crete Township Clerk. She is also a teacher— lecturing at her alma mater, Governor’s State University.

Debbie and her husband Jim have four children and four grandchildren. She holds degrees from Governor’s State University, Robert Morris College and Prairie State College.

She maintains an active role as a leader in her community. Debbie is the past chairman of the bi-partisan Southland Caucus, and currently serves as co-chair of the Coalition of Women Legislators. She also holds positions on several statewide task forces. She attended the Darden School for Emerging Political Leaders at the University of Virginia and completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University.

With a stepson serving as a captain in the US Special Forces, her perspective on American foreign policy is deeply personal. She says about her stepson: “He did one tour of duty in Iraq and is serving in Afghanistan now. I have deep respect for his service. But it is time to bring our troops home in a responsible way, refocus our efforts on fighting terrorism, and make America more secure.” She believes that “Iraq is draining our budget and preventing us from responding to other, more real threats like Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Halvorson minces no words on Iraq. She condemns Bush for misrepresenting facts in the run up to the war and has stated that the war has “done little to make our country safer.”

Halvorson believes that strong U.S. leadership is necessary to bring about an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “so that other nations see us both as a leader and a partner,” and has been dismayed by current US saber rattling on Iran, favoring a renewed attempt at tough diplomatic engagement with Iran.

We were pleased to see that Halvorson’s support for Israel and her positions on issues in the Middle East align with our own. We’re happy to count Halvorson as part of the first round of JStreetPAC endorsements.

Learn more about and support other JStreetPAC endorsed candidates here.