Andrea Marie Valencia (born January 16, 1985) is an American politician who serves as the

City Clerk of Chicago The city clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for Chicago, including for its elections, permits, licenses, and laws. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the city clerk also serves as council secretary. The clerk is a citywide ...

. She was appointed to the position vacated by

Susana Mendoza Susana A. Mendoza (born May 13, 1972) is an American politician. She is the 10th and current Comptroller of Illinois, taking office on December 5, 2016. She previously served as the City Clerk of Chicago from 2011 to 2016. Mendoza is a member o ...

, and took office in 2017. She was elected to a full term as City Clerk in 2019 and re-elected in 2023. She ran in the Democratic primary for

Illinois Secretary of State The secretary of state of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, but placed second with 35% of the vote.

Early life and education

Andrea Marie Valencia was raised in

Granite City, Illinois Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, within the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The population was 27,549 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Metro East and S ...

, the daughter of Joe and Debbie Valencia. She is of Mexican descent. She attended the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies.

Early political career

Valencia was a staff member for Mike Quigley's congressional election campaign in 2009 and for Michigan Representative

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Michigan, a seat he has hel ...

's congressional election campaign in 2010. Valencia was a member of a Legislative Counsel and Government Affairs team for Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

in 2011 and later served as its director from April 2016 until January 2017. She was the campaign manager for Senator

Dick Durbin Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Dem ...

in 2014. In 2015, she was a Senior Advisor for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election campaign.

City Clerk

She was appointed as City Clerk in December 2016, and was sworn into office on January 25, 2017. She ran to continue her tenure as City Clerk in the 2019 election. After two challengers were removed from the ballot due to insufficient nominating petition signatures, she was unopposed and won election to a full term.

Municipal ID program

In the fall of 2016, $1 million was set aside in the City Clerk's budget for Chicago's Municipal ID program which will allow all residents the ability to apply for a government-issued ID. Since taking office, Valencia has announced that the Municipal ID card will be a three-in-one card so that it can also be used as transit and library cards. In December 2017, Clerk Valencia announced the pilot program and that the card would be called the "CityKey" with the first 100,000 IDs being free.

2022 Secretary of State campaign

In June 2021, Valencia announced her candidacy for

in the 2022 election to succeed longtime, outgoing incumbent Jesse White. Valencia was endorsed by White, Governor JB Pritzker, and U.S. Senators

and

Tammy Duckworth Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard Lieutenant colonel (United States), lieutenant colonel serving since 2017 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States ...

. On June 28, 2022, Valencia lost the Democratic primary to former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

Personal life

Valencia is married and lives in Chicago. On April 15, 2020, she gave birth to a daughter, Reyana Joy Valencia Kazmi.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Anna M. 1985 births 21st-century Illinois politicians 21st-century American women politicians City and town clerks Hispanic and Latino American politicians Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Illinois Democrats Living people American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American people in Illinois politics People from Granite City, Illinois City clerks of Chicago University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Women in Illinois politics