Nicole Jai Budzinski ( ; pol. /bud͡ʑiɲski/) (born March 11, 1977) is an American trade unionist and politician. She has served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for

Illinois's 13th congressional district The 13th congressional district of Illinois is currently represented by Democratic Party (United States), Democrat Nikki Budzinski. Recent election results from statewide races Composition Following the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

since 2023, and is a member of the Democratic Party. Budzinski worked for most of her career for

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. Just before being elected, Budzinski served as chief of staff to the director of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...

(OMB) in the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

beginning in 2021.

Early life and education

Budzinski was born in Peoria, Illinois. Her grandparents were both union members: Leonard Budzinski, her grandfather, as a painter employed by the Peoria School District, and her grandmother as a teacher in the same district. Budzinski graduated from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 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 ...

and interned for

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Dick Gephardt Richard Andrew Gephardt (; born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was House majority lead ...

, U.S. Senator

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

, and

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

Early career

Budzinski started her career at the

Laborers' International Union of North America The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA, stylized as LiUNA!), often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of whom ...

and the

International Association of Fire Fighters The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is a labor union representing paid full-time firefighters and emergency medical services personnel in the United States and Canada. The IAFF was formed in 1918 and is affiliated with the AFL� ...

before spending seven years with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) unions. She worked for the UFCW as national political director in Washington, D.C. During the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election, Budzinski led

J. B. Pritzker Jay Robert Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving since 2019 as the 43rd governor of Illinois. A member of the wealthy Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, Pritzker has started several vent ...

exploratory committee In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to candidates for pre ...

and was later a senior advisor to his campaign, focusing on political strategy, messaging and outreach. After Pritzker won, she was named transition director. When Pritzker became governor on January 14, 2019, Budzinski was appointed senior advisor. She simultaneously chaired the

Broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

Advisory Council (BAC), a state agency "charged with ... expand ngbroadband access, adoption, and utilization" in Illinois. Budzinski resigned as senior advisor to the governor in March 2020. She worked with

John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who served as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy from 2024 to 2025, having previously served as the Senior Advisor to the President ...

to advise the National Climate Jobs Resource Center and was Executive Director for Climate Jobs Illinois. In February 2021, Budzinski, recommended for the post by Podesta, was appointed chief of staff of the

(OMB). During her tenure as chief of staff, she helped set up the OMB's Made in America division. On July 16, 2021, Budzinski resigned to return to Illinois, saying she "felt it was a good time to come back o Illinois... after getting things off the ground here".

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Ted Lieu Campaigning with Nikki Budzinski

2022

On August 24, 2021, Budzinski announced her bid for the Democratic nomination for

. The district had been significantly redrawn to favor Democrats; it now included the core of

Metro East The Metro East is an urban area in Southern Illinois, United States that contains the eastern and northern urban, suburban, and exurban areas on the Mississippi River in Greater St. Louis. It encompasses eight Illinois counties and constitutes ...

. She won the primary in June 2022 against David Palmer and the general election in November against the Republican nominee, Regan Deering.

2024

Tenure

Budzinski is a member of the moderate

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily liberals and centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a liberal-to-moderate approach to fiscal matte ...

. In 2025, Budzinski was one of 46 House Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for the

Laken Riley Act The Laken Riley Act is a United States law that requires the detention, without Bail, bond, of Illegal immigration to the United States, illegal immigrants admitting to, charged with, or convicted of theft-related crimes, assaulting a police of ...

Committee assignments

For the

119th Congress The 119th United States Congress is the current term of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened on January 3, 2025, for th ...

: * Committee on Agriculture ** Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Developments ** Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology ** Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit * Committee on Veterans' Affairs ** Subcommittee on Technology Modernization (Ranking Member)

Caucus memberships

* Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment

Electoral history

References

External links

Representative Nikki Budzinski
official U.S. House website
Nikki Budzinski for Congress
campaign website * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Budzinski, Nikki 1977 births 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois Executive Office of the President of the United States Female members of the United States House of Representatives Illinois Democrats Living people Politicians from Peoria, Illinois Women in Illinois politics University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives