James Clayborne Jr. (born December 29, 1963) was a member of 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 ...

representing the 57th District from his appointment in 1995 until 2019. The 57th District, located in the Metro East region includes all or parts of Freeburg, Belleville, East St. Louis, O'Fallon,

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

, Fairview Heights, Shiloh and

Scott Air Force Base Scott Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville and O'Fallon, east-southeast of downtown St. Louis. Originally Scott Field, it was one of 32 Air Service training camps established af ...

. At the time of his retirement, Clayborne was the second highest-ranking member of the Illinois Senate as the Senate Majority Leader. On September 21, 2017, Clayborne announced he would not run for reelection in 2018. He was succeeded by Christopher Belt.

Early life and career

Senator Clayborne was born and raised in East St. Louis. After graduating from East St. Louis High School, he earned a Bachelor of Science from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

and later a law degree from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. While at the University of Miami, he met his future wife Staci, with whom he now has four sons. He went on to serve as an assistant state’s attorney in St. Clair County as well as a child support prosecutor, a supervisor in the St. Clair County Juvenile Abuse and Neglect Division, a supervisor in Felony Probation Revocations and a felony prosecutor. He also was one of 50 attorneys selected nationwide to participate in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Law Institute in Quantico, Virginia. He later chose to enter private practice

Illinois Senate

In 1995, Clayborne was appointed to complete the term of longtime Senator Kenneth Hall and was later elected in his own right in 1996. In 2009, he became the Senate Majority Leader after finishing second to

John Cullerton John J. Cullerton (born October 28, 1948) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 6th district from his appointment in 1991 to 2020. He served as President of the Illinois Senate from ...

in the race for Senate President. Clayborne is the current chair of the Assignments Committee as well as the committees on Energy, Executive Appointments, Insurance, Public Pensions & State Investments and the subcommittees on Governmental Operations and Constitutional Amendments. Clayborne also served as a

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to the

2012 Democratic National Convention The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 4–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice Pr ...

. Clayborne was succeed in the Illinois Senate by Christopher Belt and as Majority Leader by Kimberly A. Lightford.

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at the Illinois General Assembly **By session
99th98th97th96th95th94th93rdIllinois Senate Majority Leader James F. Clayborne Jr.
legislative website
Senator James F. Clayborne Jr.
at Illinois Senate Democrats * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayborne, James Jr. 1963 births 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians African-American state legislators in Illinois Democratic Party Illinois state senators Living people People from Belleville, Illinois Tennessee State University alumni University of Miami School of Law alumni 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly