Craig Wilcox is a Republican Illinois State Senator for the 32nd District. The district includes all or parts of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

, Bull Valley, Crystal Lake, Fox Lake, Greenwood,

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, Johnsburg, Lake Villa, Lakemoor, Marengo, McHenry, Spring Grove, Volo, Wonder Lake, and

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

Early life

Wilcox was born in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

and raised in

Essex Junction, Vermont Essex Junction is a city in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 10,590. It was incorporated as a village on November 15, 1892. Essex Junction became Vermont’s 10th city on July 1, 2022. ...

Military career

Wilcox attended

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

on an Air Force scholarship and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1989. He then entered active duty as a Communications Officer and was selected to command on three separate occasions. During his career, he served as Commander of the 89th Airlift Support Group at

Joint Base Andrews Joint Base Andrews (JBA) is a United States military facility located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force (USAF) 316th Wing, Air Force District of Washington (AFDW). The bas ...

. There, he led his unit providing global command and control communications and aerial port services to the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

and

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

. His first command was the 52nd Combat Communications Squadron, shortly after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, where he helped establish new airbases in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

. His second deployment was in March 2003 in southern Iraq, where his unit established the first United States Airbase in enemy territory in over 50 years. Colonel Wilcox returned to Iraq for his final deployment during the height of the insurgency and commanded for a year from 2006 to 2007 at

Balad Air Base Balad Air Base () , is an Iraqi Air Force base located near Balad in the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad, Iraq. Built in the early 1980s, it was originally named Al-Bakr Air Base. In 2003 the base was captured by the United States Armed Force ...

. Colonel Wilcox earned two Bronze Star Medals during these combat tours.

Illinois Senate

Wilcox moved to McHenry, Illinois following his retirement from the U.S. Air Force in 2013. In 2016, he was elected to the McHenry County Board to represent District 4. In 2017, incumbent Republican Senator

Pamela Althoff Pamela J. Althoff (born November 22, 1953) is a Republican politician from Illinois. She has held several elected positions, including serving in the Illinois Senate, representing the 32nd District from her appointment in March 2003 through Sept ...

announced her intention to run for McHenry County Board instead of seeking reelection to the

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. Under the ...

. Craig Wilcox and John Reinert, a fellow Republican member of the McHenry County Board, filed to run for the Republican nomination, but Reinert withdrew before the primary. Wilcox then faced Democratic nominee and McHenry Township Assessor Mary Mahady. During the general election, Wilcox was appointed to the

to succeed Althoff, who stepped down early. Wilcox defeated Mahady in the general election.

Committee assignments

Craig Wilcox currently serves on the following committees: Appropriations; Education; Labor (Minority Spokesperson); Local Government; Transportation; Veterans Affairs (Minority Spokesperson).

Electoral history

References

External links

Senator Craig Wilcox (R) 42nd District
at the Illinois General Assembly
100th101st
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcox, Craig Living people Year of birth missing (living people) County board members in Illinois Republican Party Illinois state senators Politicians from El Paso, Texas People from Chittenden County, Vermont People from McHenry, Illinois Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni United States Air Force officers Military personnel from Texas Military personnel from Illinois 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly