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Geary Yonker
Geary Yonker (Democratic Party) ran in a special election to the Illinois State Senate to represent District 20. He lost in the special Democratic primary on March 19, 2024.
Yonker completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Geary Yonker was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1993. His career experience includes working as a media consultant.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Illinois state legislative special elections, 2024
General election
Special general election for Illinois State Senate District 20
Graciela Guzman defeated Jason Proctor in the special general election for Illinois State Senate District 20 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Graciela Guzman (D)  | 81.2 | 61,803 |
 | Jason Proctor (R) | 18.8 | 14,281 | |
| Total votes: 76,084 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Special Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 20
Graciela Guzman defeated incumbent Natalie Toro, Dave Nayak, and Geary Yonker in the special Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 20 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Graciela Guzman | 51.3 | 13,521 |
 | Natalie Toro | 29.2 | 7,701 | |
 | Dave Nayak | 15.1 | 3,973 | |
 | Geary Yonker | 4.4 | 1,153 | |
| Total votes: 26,348 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 20
Jason Proctor advanced from the special Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 20 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jason Proctor | 100.0 | 1,924 |
| Total votes: 1,924 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Yonker in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Geary Yonker completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Yonker's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I know what it’s like to not have the heat on in the house during cold Chicago winters, to be the first in your family to graduate from college, to raise two kids in the city, and to care for an ailing parent in your own home. These experiences don't make me unique in any way but they explain my belief in power of families. I believe that families are the foundation of our state and we need to provide more support to parents that are fighting everyday to make a better life for their kids.
Professionally I have been working to fund independent journalism since 1999 and have raised millions for non-profit news organizations. I am the founder of Logan Square Arts Festival which has hosted over 400,000 guests and raised tens of thousands of dollars for neighborhood non-profits. I also founded the Kosciuszko Park Advisory Council which advocated for, and won, $2 million dollars of improvements for Logan Square’s largest park. I have a degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and I am life-long Democrat that has fought for progressive causes in the city of Chicago and around the Midwest.- We have a housing affordability crisis in Chicago. We are not building enough new affordable housing. We have allowed too many multi-unit properties to be converted into single family homes and we give property owners the wrong tax incentives. The state needs to fund the construction of more 100% affordable housing units. We need to slow down conversions and create a new state program that offers low interest loans for small property owners to rehab vacant properties and create additional dwelling units. Then we need to control property taxes by fighting corruption and finding more progressive state funding solutions.
- Working families spend one third of their income on child care. These enormous costs put an incredible strain on young families. There are state programs in place that help with these costs but they are very limited in their scope. We propose a dramatic expansion of the Child Care Assistance Program so that more young families do not have to spend so much of their income on child care. This will strengthen families, create more equitable access to child care services, and reward dedicated child care workers who are predominantly women of color. This is an investment in the families and the children of Illinois.
- I have not only raised two kids in the city and paid over $3000 a month for child care, but I have also cared for an ailing parent. My dad had a severe stroke, was paralyzed on one side of his body, and required around the clock care. We made the tough decision to bring Dad into our home and to care for him as a family with the help of a caregiver. The assistance these caregivers provided made it possible to care for Dad in our home and he was able to live out the final years of his life surrounded by the love of his family. We need to be working towards universal at home care for our elders and loved ones.
When I was 16 I was a Teamster working as a helper on an RC Cola delivery truck. I lost that job during a strike when the company brought in scabs to replace us. After that I got a job working in a public works department for a town in the south suburbs. My foreman always knew he could ask me to work overtime because I was trying to save money for college. I was a public employee for five years and worked outside Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. All that work paid off when I finally got accepted to the University of Illinois. My co-workers gave me a lot of crap for leaving that job for college but I made a promise to my parents and myself.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Illinois State Senate District 20 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 16, 2024
