Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky is a firm believer in Sen. Barack Obama’s message of change, but she wants one thing to stay the same in November: her seat.
“I think we are on the verge of a new progressive era in this country,” said Schakowsky, sitting in her Chicago campaign office two days before Election Day. “I see myself as a part of (that) movement.”
Schakowsky, 63, one of the most powerful members of Congress, is seeking her sixth term as the representative for Illinois’ 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Democratic incumbent serves as a chief deputy whip and is on the Steering and Policy Committee, as well as the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
As Democrats are poised to cast their votes Tuesday, Schakowsky’s campaign is more focused on rallying support for other candidates rather than winning against her opponent, Chicago lawyer John Nocita.
“We do have an opponent and we always take this process seriously, but we haven’t seen that much on that end,” said Alex Armour, the campaign’s political director.
The congresswoman’s campaign has raised more $763,000, while Nocita received about $14,000, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Schakowsky described her opponent’s views as “closer to the Republican party,” and said that he has not attended many Democratic Party functions.
“I saw him once,” she said. “I don’t know how serious a campaign he’s really run.”
Still, Schakowsky is not taking the race lightly, she said. She will try to be as visible as possible on Election Day, she said, especially in Chicago’s 41st Ward, where Nocita lives.
“Certainly I’m hoping for a victory,” Schakowsky said. “I’d like to see a big victory.”
Schakowsky also is actively involved in other high-profile races. The congresswoman has campaigned extensively for Cook County state’s attorney candidate Larry Suffredin and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). She serves as a national co-chair of the Obama presidential campaign.
“Barack Obama has a unique magic of being able to bring people together to sit down at the same table and focus on solutions,” said Schakowsky, who pointed out that in 2004, 1 million people voted for both President Bush and Obama, who was then running for U.S. Senate.
Yet, while Obama is now locked in a tight race for president, Schakowsky is expected to easily win back her seat.
Two years ago, she won the district with 75 percent of the vote, and she has garnered more than 70 percent of public support in every election since 1998. She credits her popularity to the work of her district office and to her policy of always being available to constituents.
The congresswoman grew up in West Rogers Park and has lived in the district almost all her life. She currently lives with Bob Creamer, her husband of 27 years, in an Evanston home two miles away from her childhood house. Two of her children and all four of her grandchildren live in Chicago and its suburbs.
A 1965 graduate of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Schakowsky was an elementary school teacher before entering politics. She served eight years in the Illinois General Assembly, two of those years with Obama, before being elected to Congress.
During her 10 years in the House, Schakowsky has gained recognition for being an advocate for women’s issues. She has sponsored legislation preventing violence against battered women and has recently been working to limit private military contractors in Iraq. One of the most liberal members of Congress, she is a founder of the Out-of-Iraq Caucus and a member of the Progressive Caucus.
Schakowsky said her biggest accomplishment in Congress has been her work in consumer protection, especially in car safety, such as a bill calling for better technology for seeing through rear windows.
“The worst thing I have to do in Congress is about every six months, parents come and do a press conference with me with pictures of their children or grandchildren which they have killed because they rolled over them backwards in the driveway,” she said.
Another big project for the congresswoman has been working to prevent horse slaughter. A one-time horse owner who said she sometimes doodles horse heads on her notes when she’s bored in Congress, Schakowsky has twice introduced legislation to Congress to ban horse slaughter. Her most recent bill was passed in the House and now awaits Senate approval.
But her greatest project is still ahead of her, Schakowsky said.
“If I am able to accomplish (universal health care), I will die a very happy woman,” she said. “I want it to say on my headstone or my urn or whatever: ‘She helped bring health care to all Americans’.”
Schakowsky said she doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon.
“I’m hoping in 10 years I’ll still be serving in the United States Congress,” she said. “(But) regardless of where I am, if I’m alive, I will be doing something to advance a progressive agenda … I’m not looking for a beach to retire to or anything like that. This is my life’s work.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at [email protected]
