She Runs Illinois 2022! — Adriane Johnson, candidate for IL Senate, District 30
She Votes Illinois is pleased to feature Adriane Johnson, incumbent, running for IL Senate, District 30. Follow our series, She Runs Illinois 2022!, leading up to election day as we showcase and uplift the voices of Illinois women running for public office in the upcoming election, November 8, 2022.
Tell us about yourself
I have lived in Lake County, Illinois for nearly 25 years. I was sworn in as the first Black State Senator from Lake County to represent the 30th District in October 2020.
I am a former commissioner of the Buffalo Grove Park District Board, served as Board President, and the former president of the Buffalo Grove-Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce. I have dedicated a considerable amount of time to serving the residents, small businesses, and local parks of the northern suburbs.
I am a Past-Chairman of the Illinois Association of Park Districts’ Board of Trustees, former member of the Village of Buffalo Grove Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, a member of the Rotary Club of Buffalo Grove, and serve as a volunteer with the Taproot Foundation.
I am passionate about protecting our environment, supporting environmental justice communities, supporting small businesses, reducing gun violence, fighting a fully free state and nation, ensuring that basic civil and human rights are protected, ensuring healthcare for all, expanding pre-school programs, and ensuring a quality education for all, no matter your zip code, just to name a few.
I serve as vice chair of the Senate Environment and Conservation Committee, and a member of the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health, Commerce, Public Safety, Ethics, and Transportation committees.
What are the priorities that you intend to focus on in office?
I intend to continue fighting for environmental justice, sensible gun laws, protecting women’s rights to choose / bodily autonomy, justice for all, ethics reform, and fully free communities.
What do you wish you had known before you decided to run for office?
I wish I had known that my business would be greatly impacted. I would have sought the opportunity anyway, however, I would have better planned for handling the loss of my primary revenue stream.
The crisis of domestic violence is closely linked to the widespread and growing use of guns by abusers. What solutions do you advocate to reduce gender-based gun violence in Illinois?
Gun violence is a public health crisis and abusers have unfettered access to guns. In the 1980s, we had roughly 45 million guns on the streets. Today, we have approximately 400 million guns in the public domain. One solution that I will advocate for is stricter Red Flag Laws to close the boyfriend loophole associated with gun acquisition. Specifically, I will support legislation to make sure that unmarried partners cannot purchase or have guns if they were found guilty of violence against a dating partner. I will also support a public campaign to promote enhanced gun laws to educate the public and ensure consistent application of the laws.
Racially motivated violence against Asian Americans is a longstanding issue in the U.S., but incidents have been on the rise. How will you plan to understand impacted communities’ fears and needs in order to work towards ensuring their safety?
To address the rising hate against Asian Americans and understand how impacted communities are managing threats from homegrown terrorists and ensure their safety, is by working with my colleagues to strengthen our hate-crime laws and to classify perpetrators of racially-motivated hate crimes as domestic terrorists, aligned with the same level of prosecution as foreign terrorists.
Considering a person’s different identities (race, class, gender, etc.), what more needs to be done in Illinois to protect people’s rights and access to reproductive services?
I am proud that Illinois is a safe haven for women and ensures the protection of all women’s bodily autonomy, no matter their race, class, gender, or other identifying considerations.
However, we have a responsibility to not just protect women who live in Illinois, but also women from other states who travel to Illinois to receive reproductive healthcare services. We also want to make sure that we have the capacity to serve all women, and that is why I support streamlining the process for out-of-state healthcare professionals to be licensed and credentialed in Illinois.
Closing comments
I ask for your vote and support because I’ve been working very hard and have been successful in infusing considerable funding into my district to address gun violence, healthcare, addiction and mental health counseling, food insecurities, transportation barriers, youth employment, diversion programs, infrastructure improvement, stormwater management, and environmental justice, and more. I am in this position to solve bigger problems, help more people, and make a greater impact. I am in it to do something, not to be something.
I wake up every morning and go to work for people in my district and statewide. I love that I can actually make a difference. It’s something that matters to me, and I want to continue to improve the quality of life for residents and communities throughout the 30th district and our great state of Illinois.
If you would like to learn more about Adriane Johnson and her platform or volunteer for her campaign, please check out her website at adrianejohnsonforil.com. Don’t forget to follow her on Facebook. Reach out today and help make a difference in the upcoming 2022 election.
(The information contained in this post is provided only as general information and does not imply an endorsement by She Votes Illinois.)
