William "Willie" Delgado (born October 31, 1956) is a former Democratic 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 2nd district from 2006 until June 2016. He was first elected in 2006, replacing

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, ...

, who was elected

Chicago City Clerk The city clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for Chicago, including for its elections, permits, licenses, and laws. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the city clerk also serves as council secretary. The clerk is a citywide ...

. Previously, Delgado served 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 ...

from 1999 to 2006 and was replaced by

Luis Arroyo Luis Enrique "Tite" Arroyo, (February 18, 1927 – January 13, 2016) was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball pitcher from 1955 to 1963. Arroyo was the first Puerto Rican player to appear for the New York Yankees and was a key part of their penn ...

. On January 5, 2015, Delgado announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the Illinois Senate. He retired from the seat effective June 30, 2016.

Early life

Delgado was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

but was raised 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 ...

. He graduated from Tilden High School and

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. NEIU serves approximately 5,000 students in the region and is both a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution and Asian American and Nat ...

, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, with a minor in Sociology. Upon graduation, he married his high school sweetheart Iris Santiago. They have two children.

Public service

Delgado began his career coordinating youth programs for the West Town

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

, the Mayor's Office of Summer Employment and Training and the Association House of Chicago. With each of these organizations, Delgado's main responsibility was youth outreach. He later served as a Youth and Family Counselor, then as Probation and Parole Officer in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. When he returned to Chicago, he continued his community service at the Department of Children and Family Services. Delgado was active in statewide politics as well. He served as Hispanic Liaison for former Attorney General

Roland Burris Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is an American politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995 and as a United States senator from Illinois from 2009 until 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

and Latino Liaison during the 1994 campaign of gubernatorial candidate

Dawn Clark Netsch Dawn Clark Netsch (born Patricia Dawn Clark; September 16, 1926 – March 5, 2013) was an American politician and Northwestern University law professor. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she served in the Ill ...

. While with Attorney General Burris, Delgado organized and implemented the "Gun Turn in Day" program, which led to the removal of more than 142 illegal firearms from the streets of Chicago. The five years prior to his election as representative, Delgado worked as Director of Community Services for State Senator

. Delgado was endorsed by the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America in 1996 as a member of The New Party and candidate to win the Democratic ballot line for the Illinois House of Representatives in the 3rd District on the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham ...

of Chicago. He was endorsed due to his longtime standing as a community activist with an academic background in criminal justice and social work.

State representative

Delgado was first elected in 1998. Delgado's top legislative priorities are education reform, economic development, and crime prevention. He is working to develop school safety initiatives to keep drugs and guns out of local classrooms. Delgado also supports reducing class sizes, improving classroom discipline, and increasing state support for school construction grant funding. Delgado also highlights his work as "champion of health and physical fitness issues." He has sponsored legislation to see that physical fitness is emphasized in schools statewide. Representative Delgado serves on seven committees: Appropriations for Elementary and Secondary Education; Fee for Service Initiatives; Human Services; Judiciary II- Criminal Law; KidCare; Managing Sex Offender Issues; and Registration and Regulation.

State senator

William Delgado was appointed Illinois State Senator, by the former State Senator

. Del Valle was appointed as

City Clerk of Chicago The city clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for Chicago, including for its elections, permits, licenses, and laws. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the city clerk also serves as council secretary. The clerk is a citywide ...

by Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

Post-legislative career

On October 18, 2023, Governor J.B. Pritzker nominated Delgado to the Illinois Prison Review Board. Delgado was confirmed by the Illinois Senate to a term starting September 5, 2023 and ending on January 18, 2027.

References

External links

Biography, bills and committees
at the 99th Illinois General Assembly **By session
99th98th97th96th95th94th93rdIllinois State Senator William Delgado
legislative website
Senator William Delgado
at Illinois Senate Democrats * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, William Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives 1956 births Living people Northeastern Illinois University alumni Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Illinois 21st-century members of the Illinois General Assembly