Bradley A. Stephens is a Republican Party politician currently serving as state representative from the 20th district within the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

and the village president (

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

) of

Rosemont Rosemont may refer to: People Rosemont is a surname. Notable people with this surname include: * David A. Rosemont, American television producer * Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009), American poet, artist, historian * Norman Rosemont (1924–2018), ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Stephens was appointed to his seat in the Illinois House of Representatives on June 29, 2019 to replace Michael P. McAuliffe, and won election to a full term in the Illinois House of Representatives in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. He has served as the village president of Rosemont since being appointed in 2007 to succeed his father Donald Stephens (who had

died in office A death in office is the death of a person who was incumbent of an office-position until the time of death. Such deaths have been usually due to natural causes, but they are also caused by accidents, suicides, disease and assassinations. The deat ...

), and has since been elected to three full four-year terms. Stephens has also served as a member of the

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes refer ...

board of directors, the Leyden Township supervisor (an elected position), a member of the Pace board of directors, and a Rosemont village trustee (an elected position). Stephens is the Leyden Township Republican Party committeeperson, an elected party position.

Early life and family

Stephens was born on February 5, 1963. Stephens' family is highly influential in

' government. Stephens' father Donald Stephens was a founder of the village, and, until his death in 2007, served as its first village president. As of 2010, the Stephens family had ten family members on the village's payroll, cumulatively earning nearly $1 million in annual salary. At that time, five members of his family were elected officials in the city. Stephens' mother was Estelle “Pat” Stephens (). She died in 2019.

Early career

In 1989, Stephens became a Rosemont village trustee, an elected position. He would continue to hold this position for 18 years, until he was appointed mayor in 2007. Stephens also served as Leyden Township supervisor, an elected position. He would hold this position until 2013. Stephen's opted to run for reelection in 2012 and was succeeded in 2013 by Joseph Ponzio. Stephens has served as the Leyden Township Republican Party committeeperson, an elected party position. He has won election to this position every four years since 2006 by a vote of those participating in the Republican primaries.

Rosemont village presidency (2007–present)

Stephens was appointed village president of Rosemont by the Village of Rosemont Board of Trustees on May 1, 2007, two weeks after his father, Donald Stephens,

. He was sworn in on May 6. He was elected to a full term in 2009 with 91% of the vote, and has been reelected as village president in 2013, 2017, and 2021. While mayor, he has continued to serve as the Leyden Township Republican Party committeeperson. He also, until 2013, continued to serve as Leyden Township supervisor. Stephens earns a $260,000 salary as mayor, making him one of the highest-paid mayors. Stephens was a member of the Pace board of directors. Among the major developments that came to the village during Stephens' tenure was the Fashion Outlets of Chicago, which opened in 2013. Stephens sought to lure the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

team to build a new stadium for the team in the village, offering to, free-of-charge, give them 25 acres of land in the village to the west of the

Interstate 294 Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled auxiliary Interstate Highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Forming the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois, I-294 runs from South Holland at I-80/ I-94 and Illino ...

and south of Balmoral Avenue. The village offered hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to the team. This came amid negotiations between the city of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and the Cubs over proposed renovations to the team's existing stadium,

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

. The Chicago Cubs ultimately remained at Wrigley Field, undertaking renovations. Stephens would bring a professional baseball stadium to the village in the form of the form of

Impact Field Impact Field is a baseball park in Rosemont, Illinois, U.S., which is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is the home of the Chicago Dogs, an independent league baseball team playing in the American Association of Independent Professiona ...

, which opened in 2018 as the home of the Chicago Dogs

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

baseball team. Stephens was appointed as a member of the

's board of directors in June 2018. His tenure on this board of directors would be relatively brief.

Member of the Illinois House of Representatives (2019–present)

Stephens was appointed to serve as the member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

from the 20th district on June 29, 2019, filling the seat previously held by Michael P. McAuliffe. The 20th district includes all or parts of Des Plaines, Park Ridge,

, Schiller Park,

Norridge Norridge is a village in Leyden Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The village and its neighbor to the east, Harwood Heights, together form an enclave within the city of Chicago. Norridge is sometimes referred to as the "Island Wi ...

, Harwood Heights, Franklin Park, and the

neighborhoods of Edison Park, Norwood Park, and O'Hare. Stephens is the only Republican representing a significant portion of Chicago in the

, and indeed the only Republican representing a significant portion of Chicago at the state or federal level. In the 2019–20 session (the 101st Illinois General Assembly), he served on the Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education; Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, & IT; Health Care Licenses; Financial Institutions; Veterans' Affairs; and Mental Health committees. Stephens was elected to a full term in the Illinois House of Representatives in

. In his reelection campaign, he painted himself as standing against Democratic Party

political boss In the politics of the United States of America, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of th ...

Michael Madigan Michael Joseph Madigan (born April 19, 1942) is an American politician and convicted felon who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the longes ...

, and tied his Democratic opponent, Michelle Darbro, to Madigan (who, indeed, had been giving her campaign financial backing). Despite being a Republican, Stephens himself had past ties to Madigan, as he had once been a significant donor to Madigan. Democrats attacked Stephens for accepting political contributions to his reelection campaign from

red light camera A red light camera (short for red light running camera ) is a type of traffic enforcement camera that photographs a vehicle that has entered an intersection after the traffic signal controlling the intersection has turned red. By automatically pho ...

contractors. In the 2020–21 session (the 102nd Illinois General Assembly), he is serving on the Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education; Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, & IT; Financial Institutions; Health Care Licenses; Mental Health; and Veterans' Affairs committees.

Personal life

Stephens lives in Rosemont with his wife, Suzi. Stephens is the father of five children.

Electoral history

Rosemont village Trustee

Leyden Township Supervisor

Rosemont Village President

Leyden Township Republican Committeeperson

Illinois House of Representatives

;2020 ;2022

References

External links

Representative Bradley Stephens (R) 20th District
at the Illinois General Assembly
101st
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Bradley Illinois city council members Living people Mayors of places in Illinois People from Rosemont, Illinois Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly