Napoleon Bill Harris III (born February 25, 1979) is an American politician and former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who has been 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 15th district since 2013. The 15th district stretches from Blue Island in the north, Calumet City in the east, Homewood in the west, Steger in the south, and includes all or parts of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

- Monee, Dolton, Flossmoor, Glenwood, Thornton, Dixmoor, Markham,

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

, Oak Forest, Harvey, Riverdale, and

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

. Prior to his service in the Illinois Senate, he played as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for seven seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

, the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

at various times.

Early life

Harris grew up in Dixmoor, Illinois. He attended Lincoln Elementary School, Rosa L. Parks Middle School, and Thornton Township High School. He was a tri-star athlete and honor student. His father died his junior year of high school. Harris was an honors student at Thornton Township High School in

Harvey, Illinois Harvey is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 20,324 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Harvey is bordered by the villages of Dixmoor, Illinois, Dixmoor and Riverdale, Illinois, Riverdale to the north; ...

and lettered in

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. In football, he posted 23 sacks, 98

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

, two

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

recoveries, 1 forced fumble, two safeties, and one

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

and was named the Defensive Player of the Year by the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'', ''Star Publications'', '' Daily Southtown'', and the '' Hammond Times''. Napoleon also averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds on the No. 1 basketball team in the country. Harris enrolled at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, where he played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other ...

. For one year, he was a two sport athlete playing

. His complete college career ranked 11th on Northwestern's all-time tackles list with 334. All-Big Ten Conference as a senior after starting all 11 games at

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

after moving from outside linebacker and ranked fourth on team in tackles with 78.

NFL career

Harris was selected in the first round of the 2002 draft by the

, the 23rd overall pick. That year, he started 13 of 16 regular-season games, all three playoff games, and Super Bowl XXXVII for the Oakland Raiders and was named to the ''

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illin ...

'' All-Rookie team. In 2005, Harris was acquired by the

as part of blockbuster trade which sent Randy Moss to Oakland for the seventh overall pick and a seventh-round pick in the

2005 NFL draft The 2005 NFL draft, the 70th in league history, took place on April 23 and 24, 2005 NFL season, 2005. The draft was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and was televised for the 26th consecutive year, with coverage on E ...

. The Vikings used the picks to select

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Troy Williamson and

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

Adrian Ward. Despite being traded for one of the premier players in the National Football League, Harris did not immediately live up to his potential the following season with the Minnesota Vikings. In that first season with the Vikings, he was hampered with a lingering knee injury and saw limited playing time. However, in the second season he finished second on the team with 96 tackles, 3 interceptions, 3.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries in 14 games. On March 6, 2007, Harris agreed to a six-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs released Harris on October 14, 2008. Just two days after his release from the Chiefs, Harris re-joined the

on October 16. Harris started in 5 of the 10 games he played and finished his second stint with the Vikings with 32 tackles and 1 sack, and also scored his first NFL touchdown after returning a fumble 27 yards in week 12 in Jacksonville. Despite a fairly good performance, the Vikings did not hold on to him. In May 2008, Napoleon appeared on The CW Network series '' The Game''. Harris signed a one-year contract with the

on August 24, 2009, after the team released

Ricky Manning, but was released five days later.

NFL statistics

Source: ESPN.

Personal life

Harris is married with two children. After leaving the NFL, Harris, his wife, and sons where he became the owner of two Beggars Pizza locations.

Illinois Senate

In 2011, after

Illinois State Senator 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 th ...

James Meeks announced his retirement, Harris chose to run to succeed him in the 15th district on a platform of creating economic growth for the district. He won the 2012 primary with a plurality of the vote against two opponents, and ran in the general election unopposed. As of July 2022, Senator Harris is a member of the following Illinois Senate committees: * (chairman of) Appropriations – Personnel and Procurement Committee (SAPP-SAPP) * Appropriations – Revenue and Finance Committee (SAPP-SARF) * Appropriations – Government Infrastructure Committee (SAPP-SAGI) * Appropriations Committee (SAPP) * Commerce Committee (SCOM) * (Co-chairman of) Critical Energy Infrastructure and Grid Reliability (SENE-ECEI) * Energy and Public Utilities Committee (SENE) * Executive Committee (SEXC) * Executive – Cannabis Committee (SEXC-SEOC) * (chairman of) Executive – Tobacco Committee (SEXC-STOB) * Health Committee (SHEA) * (chairman of) Insurance Committee (SINS) * Pensions Committee (SPEN) * (chairman of) Redistricting – South Cook County (SRED) * Subcommittee on Public Health (SHEA-SHPH)

Thornton Township politics

After the death of longtime Thornton Township Democratic committeeman Frank Zuccarelli, Harris defeated State Representative Thaddeus Jones for the position. Harris is the Democratic nominee for Thornton Township Supervisor (township executive) in the 2025 election, having been nominated in a township Democratic nominating caucus on December 3, 2024, defeating the scandal-plagued incumbent supervisor Tiffany Henyard for the nomination. Harris won the four-way race for township supervisor in the consolidated election on April 1, 2025, with 74% of the vote cast. He was sworn in on May 19, 2025.

Electoral history

While a member of the Illinois Senate, Harris has run for higher office on two occasions. In 2013, Harris ran for the congressional seat vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr., but dropped out after two months, endorsing Robin Kelly. In 2015, he announced his candidacy in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. He would come in third place, losing to

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 ...

, who would go on to win the general election.

References

External links

;Illinois Senate
Biography, bills and committees
at the 98th Illinois General Assembly ** By session
98th

Illinois State Senator Napoleon B. Harris III
legislative website
Senator Napoleon Harris
at Illinois Senate Democrats * ;Football
Northwestern Wildcats bio

Oakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Napoleon 1979 births 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly African-American state legislators in Illinois American athlete-politicians American football defensive ends American football linebackers American men's basketball players Baptists from Illinois Basketball players from Chicago Democratic Party Illinois state senators Kansas City Chiefs players Living people Members of the Church of God in Christ Minnesota Vikings players Northwestern Wildcats football players Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball players Oakland Raiders players People from Flossmoor, Illinois Players of American football from Cook County, Illinois Politicians from Chicago