Illinois
13. Delia Ramirez
As a Chicago-area state representative and the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Ramirez has the distinction of being the first Guatemalan American to serve in the Illinois General Assembly. The Chicago-area state representative contested an open seat due to redistricting after the 2020 U.S. census.
After easily defeating Chicago City Council member Gilbert Villegas and professor and foreign policy advisor Iymen Chehade in the primaries, she would go on to convincingly defeated Republican nominee Justin Burau with 67% to win the U.S. House election for Illinois’s 3rd congressional district, making her the first Latina elected to Congress from Illinois.
14. Eric Sorensen
As an openly gay man, Sorensen has long advocated for the LGBTQ community and taken part in several nonprofits providing affirming care in the Quad Cities since 2016. Also as a meteorologist and environmental activist he became a Fellow of the Society for Environmental Journalists in 2018 before turning his attention to politics after Democratic incumbent Cheri Bustos decided to not seek reelection for Illinois’s 17th congressional district.
He was pitted against Republican Esther Joy King who had already tasted defeat at the hands of Bustos in the 2020 election. She would suffer the same fate against Sorensen. His victory made him the first out gay person elected to Congress from Illinois.
