Don Harmon is a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the Illinois Senate

Illinois Senate

The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from...

, representing the 39th District since 2003. His district includes the Chicago neighborhood of Austin

Austin, Chicago

Austin, located on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, is the largest of the city's 77 officially defined community areas, followed by Lake View. Its eastern boundary is the Belt Railway located just east of Cicero Avenue. Its northernmost border is the Milwaukee District/West Line...

 and the suburbs of Oak Park

Oak Park, Illinois

Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...

, Elmwood Park

Elmwood Park, Illinois

Elmwood Park is a village bordering the northwest side of the City of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,405 at the 2000 census. The community has long maintained a large Italian-American population, with a more recent influx of Polish-American and Hispanic...

, Berkeley

Berkeley, Illinois

Berkeley is a village located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Incorporated in 1924, the population at the 2000 census was 5,245.The town has a commuter railroad station on Metra's Union Pacific/West Line with service to downtown Chicago.-Geography:...

, Bensenville

Bensenville, Illinois

Bensenville is a village located primarily in DuPage County, Illinois, with a small section near O'Hare International Airport in Cook County, Illinois, overlapping into the city of Chicago. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 20,703. Bensenville is home to the Edge Ice Arena, home of...

, Franklin Park

Franklin Park, Illinois

Franklin Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,800 at the 2004 census.-Geography:Franklin Park is located at ....

, Melrose Park

Melrose Park, Illinois

Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a "near-in" suburb of Chicago. The population was 23,171 at the 2000 census. Melrose Park has long been home to a large Italian-American population, though now it is majority Mexican-American. It was the home of Kiddieland...

, Northlake

Northlake, Illinois

Northlake is a city in suburban Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,878 at the 2000 census. The city's moniker is "The City of Friendly People".-Geography:...

, River Forest

River Forest, Illinois

River Forest is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Two universities make their home in River Forest, Dominican University and Concordia University Chicago. The village is closely tied to the larger neighboring community of Oak Park, Illinois. There are significant...

, River Grove

River Grove, Illinois

River Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,668 at the 2000 census.-Geography:River Grove is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of ....

, Rosemont

Rosemont, Illinois

Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States located immediately northwest of Chicago. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that...

, Schiller Park

Schiller Park, Illinois

Schiller Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,850 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Schiller Park is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land....

, and Stone Park

Stone Park, Illinois

Stone Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,127 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Stone Park is located at ....

. Senator Harmon serves as Vice-Chair of the Judiciary Committee, and on the Assignments, Environment, Executive, Executive Appointments, Redistricting, and Telecommunications and Technology Committees. In January 2009, incoming Senate President John Cullerton

John Cullerton

John J. Cullerton is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 6th district since his appointment in 1991. He was elected President of the Illinois Senate in 2009.- Early life :...

 appointed Harmon Assistant Majority Leader.

Early life and career

Harmon was born and raised in Oak Park where he attended St. Giles Grade School. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School on Chicago's west side, Knox College in Galesburg, Illiniois, and the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 (law degree and MBA). After law school, Harmon served in Springfield on the House legal staff.

Political career

In August 2000, Don Harmon was nominated by members of the Democratic Party of Oak Park to fulfill the term of former Illinois Senate President Phil Rock as Oak Park Democratic Committeeman. He was then elected to his first full term as Committeeman in 2002 and has since been re-elected in 2006 and 2010. In 2010, Harmon was elected to serve as the Suburban Vice-Chair of the Democratic Party of Cook County.

First elected in the fall of 2002, Harmon has promoted a progressive agenda in the Illinois Senate. During his first term he served alongside then-State Senator and now U.S. President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

.
Harmon sponsored legislation creating the Illinois Early Learning Council to create policy recommendations regarding the education of children from birth to age five. The result of that effort was the Pre-School for All program implemented throughout the state.
He also authored the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 to prohibit discriminatory policies by state, county or local governments, and to preserve for Illinois citizens civil rights protections eroded by recent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions.

Additionally he helped pass legislation to eliminate two obsolete taxing districts-the Cook County Tuberculosis Sanitarium District and the Cicero Township Trustee of Schools saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

External links

• Illinois State Senator Don Harmon political website
• Illinois General Assembly - Senator Don Harmon (D) 30th District official IL Senate website
  • Bills Committees
• Project Vote Smart - Senator Don Harmon (IL) profile
• Follow the Money - Don Harmon
  • 2006 2004 2002 campaign contributions
• Illinois State Senate Democrats - Senator Don Harmon profile