Loleta Anderson Didrickson (born May 22, 1941) is the 5th

Illinois Comptroller The Comptroller of Illinois is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Ten individuals have held the office of Comptroller since the enactment of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replaci ...

, serving from 1995 to 1999.

Early life and education

Didrickson was born on May 22, 1941 in

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 ...

. She attended public schools and completed three years of study at the

University of Illinois 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 ...

before marrying her husband, Charles "Charlie" Didrickson, and raising three children. She later completed a

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degree, with a major in

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

, at

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Career

Didrickson was elected comptroller in 1994, succeeding Democrat Dawn Netsch, who was the Democratic nominee for governor. Her Democratic opponent was

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Earlean Collins. Before being elected comptroller, Didrickson served for three years, under Governor

Jim Edgar James Robert Edgar (born July 22, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. A Moderate Republican (modern United States), moderate Republican Party (United States), Republican, he previously s ...

, as the Director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security. She had served eight years in 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 ...

. In 1998, Didrickson was a candidate for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. She was strongly supported in this bid by Governor Edgar and former Republican presidential nominee

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

. The latter was her national campaign chairman. In a heated

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, however, she was defeated by a more conservative candidate, State Senator Peter Fitzgerald. He went on that year to defeat incumbent Senator Carol Moseley-Braun. Didrickson was succeeded as comptroller by Democrat Dan Hynes.

References

1941 births Living people Comptrollers of Illinois Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century American women 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 20th-century American women politicians {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-Republican-stub