Theresa Mah is a Democratic member of 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 ...

who has represented the 24th district since 2023. She previously represented the 2nd district since January 2017 until being redistricted into the 24th district. Mah was the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly. Mah is a co-chair of the Illinois House's Progressive Caucus.

Early life, education, and career

Mah was born in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. She earned a B.A. in history from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1991 and a Ph.D. in history from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1999. She has stated that her father's experience of being a "

paper son Paper sons or paper daughters were Chinese people who were born in China and illegally immigrated to the United States and Canada by obtaining documents that indicated they were the blood relatives of Chinese people who had already received U.S. ...

" motivated her interest in studying Asian American history. Her dissertation was entitled "Buying into the Middle Class: Residential Segregation and Racial Formation in the United States, 1920–1964." She worked as an assistant professor at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...

for six years. She returned to Chicago in 2006 to work for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and later worked for the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. During her time in the latter organization, she worked to ensure that the Chinese American population on Chicago's South Side was covered by one electoral district during the redistricting process. She also served as an advisor to Governor Pat Quinn.

Illinois State Representative (2017-present)

Elections

In 2016, Mah ran as a Democrat for the Illinois House of Representatives' 2nd district seat, which was open due to incumbent Edward Acevedo's retirement. In the Democratic primary election, she defeated Alex Acevedo, the incumbent's son, with 51.25% of the vote. She ran unopposed in the general election, and won re-election in both 2018 and 2020. In 2022, following redistricting, she was re-elected as the representative for the 24th district.

Tenure

As Illinois State Representative, Mah has been a vocal advocate for immigrant rights, sponsoring a number of bills on the subject and appearing frequently at pro-immigrant rallies. Bills on which she has been a lead sponsor include legislation to prohibit LGBTQ discrimination in assisted or shared living facilities and to protect immigrants from discrimination by landlords. In 2019, she was one of the co-founders of a new progressive caucus within the Illinois House of Representatives.

Committees

As of July 2, 2022, Representative Mah is a member in the following Illinois House committees: * Appropriations – Elementary & Secondary Education Committee (HAPE) * Financial Impact Subcommittee (HMAC-IMPA) * Health Car Licenses Committee (HHCL) * Housing Committee (SHOU) * Immigration & Human Right Committee (SIHR) * International Trade & Commerce Committee (HITC) * Museums, Arts, & Cultural Enhancement Committee (HMAC) * Redistricting Committee (HRED) * Tourism Committee (SHTO)

Other roles in politics

After winning the 2018 general election,

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 ...

appointed Mah to his Transition Committee for Equality, Equity and Opportunity. She supported the mayoral bids of

Miguel del Valle Miguel del Valle (born July 24, 1951) is an Americans, American politician who has served in various roles in municipal and state government in Chicago. He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1987, becoming the first Hispanic member of the body, ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

Jesús "Chuy" García Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet. Jesus may also refer to: People Religious figures * Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Act ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Mah supported

Toni Preckwinkle Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the incumbent County Board president in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was elected to her first term as president of the Cook County Board of Commis ...

's campaign for mayor. In the 2023 mayoral election, Mah criticized candidate

Paul Vallas Paul Gust Vallas Sr. (; born June 10, 1953) is an American politician and former Superintendent (education), education superintendent. He served as the superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut and the Recovery School Distri ...

, describing him as “unfit” for office following a controversy surrounding "remarks on

critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic field focused on the relationships between Social constructionism, social conceptions of Race and ethnicity in the United States census, race and ethnicity, Law in the United States, social and political ...

". Mah endorsed García's 2023 candidacy for mayor. In the 2024 Democratic primary, Mah defeated incumbent Committeeman George Cárdenas by an eight point margin in a three-way race to become Committeewoman of Chicago's 12th ward.

Electoral history

2016

2018

2020

2022

References

External links

Representative Theresa Mah (D)
at the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

** By session
100th
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mah, Theresa 21st-century American women politicians American politicians of Chinese descent Asian-American state legislators in Illinois Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Living people Politicians from Chicago Politicians from San Francisco University of Chicago alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Women state legislators in Illinois Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly