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Mike Jacobs, Illinois Senator

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Mike Jacobs
Image of Mike Jacobs
Prior offices
Illinois State Senate District 36
Successor: Neil Anderson

Education

Bachelor's

University of Illinois, Springfield

Graduate

University of West Florida

Contact

Mike Jacobs is a former Democratic member of the Illinois State Senate, representing District 36 from 2005 to 2015.

Biography

Jacobs earned his B.S. in political studies from Illinois-Springfield and his M.S. in political science from West Florida. His professional experience includes working as a Downstate Liaison for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.[1]

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Jacobs served on the following committees:

Illinois committee assignments, 2013
Agriculture and Conservation
Appropriations II
Committee of the Whole
Energy, Chairperson
Executive Appointments
Insurance

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Jacobs served on these committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Jacobs served on these committees:[2]

Issues

Budget, 2011

Both Republican and Democrat Senators were concerned that they didn't have enough time to before voting up or down the $1.2 billion in cuts to Gov. Pat Quinn’s introduced $35.4 billion budget.

As the Senate President, Sen. John Cullerton sought this vote in a time crunch that made many senators uncomfortable.

“When we make these cuts they are real, and they affect real people,” Sen. Mike Jacobs said. “So we do have to be careful and I do agree with my colleague Senator (William) Delgado that we should go through this list slowly, completely and without an eye on which constituent gets help and what constituent gets hurt, but based on numbers.”

Sen. Matt Murphy said he too was concerned about the small time frame and reiterated his concern that reductions in spending as introduced didn’t go far enough.

“I don’t know that that gets us to a point where the tax increase goes away. I think the numbers, the way they run out, will not allow the tax increase to go away if we’re only at 1.2 (billion dollars),” Murphy said.

The state increased the personal and corporate income taxes earlier this year by 67 percent and 45.9 percent, respectively. The tax increases will expire in four years unless the General Assembly votes to extend them.[3]

Sex offenders

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office backed legislation that would give law enforcement an extra tool to prevent registered sex offenders from harassing victims and their family members. Jacobs co-sponsored the measure.

House Bill 277 would have made harassment of victims and their families by sex offenders a felony, which carries a two- to five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $25,000.

A convicted child sex offender in Harvey inspired the legislation. This offender harassed a victim and the victim’s family at home with repeated phone calls to prevent them from testifying in court.

“This will allow courts to go after people who victimize people, and then victimize their family,” said Sen. Jacobs.

The state Senate voted 57-0 to approve the measure, which returned to the House for approval.[4]

Elections

2014

See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for the Illinois State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 18, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was December 2, 2013. Incumbent Mike Jacobs ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Neil Anderson ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Anderson then defeated Jacobs in the general election.[5][6][7][8]

Illinois State Senate District 36, General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngNeil Anderson 54.3% 35,895
     Democratic Mike Jacobs Incumbent 45.7% 30,242
Total Votes 66,137

2012

See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2012

Jacobs won re-election to the Illinois State Senate in District 36 in the 2012 election. Jacobs defeated Mike Boland in the Democratic primary on March 20, 2012, and defeated Bill Albracht (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[9][10][11][12]

Illinois State Senate, District 36, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngMike Jacobs Incumbent 54.8% 51,086
     Republican Bill Albracht 45.2% 42,102
Total Votes 93,188
Illinois State Senate, District 36 Democratic Primary, 2012
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngMike Jacobs Incumbent 53.8% 7,693
Mike Boland 46.2% 6,602
Total Votes 14,295

2008

On November 4, 2008, Democrat Mike Jacobs won re-election to the Illinois State Senate District 36 receiving 55,448 votes, ahead of Republican Michael Bertelsen who received 38,882 votes.[13]

Illinois State Senate, District 36 (2008)
Candidates Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Mike Jacobs (D) 55,448
Michael Bertelsen (R) 38,882

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.


Mike Jacobs campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2012Illinois State Senate, District 36Won $1,599,655 N/A**
2008Illinois State Senate, District 36Won $403,546 N/A**
2006Illinois State Senate, District 36Won $568,631 N/A**
Grand total$2,571,832 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Illinois

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.










2014

In 2014, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 29 through June 2.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2013


2012

Illinois Opportunity Project

See also: Illinois Opportunity Project's Legislative Vote Card (2012)

The Illinois Opportunity Project, "an independent research and public policy enterprise that promotes legislative solutions in advance of free markets and free minds," annually releases its Legislative Vote Card, grading all members in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly on the basis of their support of "pro-growth economic policies that increase personal freedom and reign in expansive government."[14][15]

2012

Jacobs received a score of 62.50 out of 100 in 2012 for a grade of C- according to the IOP’s grading scale. His score was tied for the 24th highest among all 59 members of the Illinois State Senate included in the Vote Card.[15]

Endorsements

2014

In 2014, Jacobs' endorsements included the following:[16][17]

  • The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
  • Equality Illinois Political Action Committee (PAC)

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Mike and his wife, Beth, have one child.[1]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for Mike + Jacobs + Illinois + Senate

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Project Vote Smart, "Michael Jacobs' Biography," accessed February 19, 2014
  2. "Illinois General Assembly," "List of Illinois Senate Committees," July 28, 2009
  3. Illinois Statehouse News, "Senators unhappy with proposed budget," May 3, 2011
  4. Illinois Statehouse News, "Illinois places limits on protests; sex offender law tougher," By Diane S.W. Lee and Mary J. Cristobal, May 23, 2011
  5. Illinois Secretary of State, "Official candidate list," accessed March 18, 2014
  6. Illinois Board of Elections, "General Primary Election Official Canvass," April 18, 2014
  7. Illinois Secretary of State, "Official general election candidate list," accessed March 18, 2014
  8. The Chicago Tribune, "Results List (Unofficial)," accessed November 5, 2014
  9. Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate List," December 5, 2011
  10. Illinois State Board of Elections, "Official 2012 Primary Results," accessed February 19, 2014
  11. Illinois Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Results," accessed February 19, 2014
  12. Illinois State Board of Elections, “Official Vote - November 6, 2012 General Election,” accessed December 31, 2012
  13. followthemoney.org, "Illinois Senate election results for 2008," accessed February 18, 2014
  14. Illinois Opportunity Project, "The Project," accessed February 21, 2013
  15. 15.0 15.1 Illinois Opportunity Project, "Legislative Vote Card home page," accessed February 21, 2013
  16. Illinois AFL-CIO, "2014 Illinois AFL-CIO Primary Election Endorsements," accessed March 5, 2014
  17. Windy City Media Group, "Equality Illinois PAC issues endorsements," January 17, 2014
Political offices
Preceded by
-
Illinois Senate District 36
2005–2015
Succeeded by
Neil Anderson (R)


Current members of the Illinois State Senate
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Majority Leader:Kimberly Lightford
Minority Leader:John Curran
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