In the most recent episode of Democracy's Future, we hear from Sharon Chung, the Democratic representative for Illinois’ 91st district, as she campaigns for re-election. The Democracy's Future podcast is a joint production between WGLT and our student partners at The Vidette.
The 91st Illinois House district includes Illinois State University and much of Bloomington-Normal. It stretches to west of Peoria along Interstate 74.
Sharon Chung explained her political background and what inspired her to run for the first time. Following the 2016 election, she felt compelled to become involved in the Democratic Party to advocate for change, she said for the benefit of herself, her daughters, and the people in her community.
“I started going to Democratic Party meetings. I started sort of organizing meetings with our congressmen and organizing rally days down in Springfield, and I started advocating for a lot of different issues,” Chung continued. “I was really happy sort of being that sort of advocate activist, just showing up to those sorts of things around town. Late summer of 2017 is when some folks approached me to run for county board and I guess the rest is history,” Chung said.
Chung was elected to the McLean County Board in 2018 and served one term before she ran for the Illinois House in 2022 and won.
Chung discussed the learning curve that occurs during the transition from being a candidate to an elected official, as well as the support available for new members in Springfield. The main lessons included understanding how budgets work, who to communicate with, and how to pass a bill.
In terms of highlights during her first term, Chung referenced the Family Farm Preservation Act, which would raise the exemption for family farm estates. The bill is still in committee in both chambers.
"We want to see those families, the farms, stay within the family. You know, they're great stewards of the land; family farms have been in their families for generations, and we want to try and keep it that way. Sen. (Dave) Koehler and I are going to keep working on it and see if we can get it over the finish line this year,” Chung said.
Chung has been active in the Bloomington-Normal community and encourages everyone, whether she's visiting people at their homes or grocery shopping. She emphasizes her commitment to her community and encourages everyone to vote for its improvement through big-picture thinking.
“Everything is political. Everything is intertwined. You vote for the people that, sort of, represent your values the best and that everything is, sort of, related to that,” Chung said.
The Republican candidate, Desi Anderson of Carlock, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
Subscribe to Democracy’s Future on the NPR App or wherever you get your podcasts. For a full transcript, visit this episode on Apple Podcasts.