Kris Tharp
Kris Tharp (Democratic Party) was a member of the Illinois State Senate, representing District 56. He assumed office on July 8, 2022. He left office on January 11, 2023.
Tharp (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Illinois State Senate to represent District 56. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Tharp completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Tharp was appointed to the state Senate on July 8, 2022, to replace Rachelle Aud Crowe (D).[1] He served as State Senator for Illinois State Senate District 56 from 2022-2023.
Biography
Kris Tharp was born in Wood River, Illinois, and lives in Bethalto, Illinois. Tharp graduated from East Alton - Wood River High School. His career experience includes working as a captain and jail administrator with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and a deputy commander of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.
Tharp has been affiliated with the following organizations:[2]
- FBI National Academy Associates
- Police Benevolent and Protective Association #118
- Illinois Rail Splitters
- Illinois Sheriff’s Association
- Illinois Correctional Association
- International Association of Chiefs of Police
- International Homicide Investigator’s Association
- National Internal Affairs Investigator’s Association
- Wood River Township Kiwanis
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Tharp was assigned to the following committees:
Elections
2022
See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Illinois State Senate District 56
Erica Harriss defeated incumbent Kris Tharp in the general election for Illinois State Senate District 56 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Erica Harriss (R)  | 51.1 | 37,459 |
 | Kris Tharp (D) | 48.9 | 35,843 | |
| Total votes: 73,302 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 56
Erica Harriss advanced from the Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 56 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Erica Harriss | 100.0 | 12,743 |
| Total votes: 12,743 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Tharp's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kris Tharp completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tharp'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 believe the experiences in my life will help me be an advocate for people struggling throughout this district. As a cancer survivor, I know what medical debt burden feels like. I will fight to cut the cost of prescription drugs so people can get the life-saving medicine they need without going in debt. My mother’s time working as a CNA at a nursing home inspired me to help seniors. As an elderly service officer, I created Madison County TRIAD to help seniors and let them know they are not alone. Our volunteers do telephone check-ins with isolated seniors and help them feel connected. I believe this can be expanded throughout the state of Illinois.
I want to be a resource to families like mine, which is why I am committed to collaborating with legislators on both sides of the aisle to create policies that ease the financial burden on families while improving quality of life.- Protecting peoples access to healthcare so that people are not choosing between medical procedures and feeding their families.
- Protecting jobs and creating an economy to support the middle class is a priority in the 56th district. We need to bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back to Illinois.
- Keeping our communities safe from dangerous criminals. I have been in law enforcement my entire life, and my son is a police officer and my wife is a corrections officer. We need to make sure that our police officers have what they need to keep our communities safe and invest more money in mental health services.
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Illinois scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023
In 2023, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 27.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on votes on bills affecting real estate and private property.
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 5 to April 9.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rachelle Aud Crowe (D) |
Illinois State Senate District 56 2022-2023 |
Succeeded by Erica Harriss (R) |
