Robert Peters (Illinois)
Robert Peters (Democratic Party) is a member of the Illinois State Senate, representing District 13. He assumed office in 2019. His current term ends on January 10, 2029.
Peters (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 17, 2026.[source]
Biography
Robert Peters was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University. Peters has worked for ICIRR, Chicago Votes, and Reclaim Chicago. He also worked on Daniel K. Biss' Democratic campaign for governor of Illinois. Peters is a dues-paying member of The People's Lobby and United Working Families.[1]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the March 17, 2026, Democratic primary as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Eleven candidates are running in the Democratic primary for Illinois' 2nd Congressional District on March 17, 2026. As of November 2025, Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D), Donna Miller (D), Robert Peters (D), and Willie Preston (D) led in fundraising and local media attention.[2]
Incumbent Robin Kelly (D), first elected in 2013, is running for U.S. Senate rather than seeking re-election, leaving the seat open. Kelly won re-election in 2024 68%–32%. The major race rating outlets rated the race as Solid Democratic, meaning the winner of this primary is likely to win the general election.
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D) is a former nonprofit executive who represented the District from 1995 to 2012. Jackson served 23 months in prison after being found guilty in 2013 of spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses.[3] Jackson says he was "was one of the most effective members of Congress, delivering nearly a billion in grants and appropriations to the District."[4]
Miller was elected to the Cook County Commission in 2018. Miller's professional experience includes working as an independent consultant in sales training and marketing.[5] Miller says she has "spent her career serving the community and fighting to lower costs for working families, increase opportunity, and expand access to healthcare, particularly for women and communities of color."[6]
Peters is a majority whip in the Illinois Senate and was elected to the chamber in 2018. He previously worked as a community organizer with the nonprofit group Chicago Votes. Peters says he is running "to bring bold, progressive leadership to Washington on behalf of the communities of Illinois’ 2nd District."[7]
Preston is the chairman of the Illinois Senate Black Caucus and was first elected to the chamber in 2022. Preston's professional experience includes owning a construction firm and working as a janitor and carpenter.[8] Preston says he is running "because I know what it means to struggle – and to overcome. Together, we're going to bring back jobs and businesses to the Southland."[9]
Also running in the primary are Toni Brown (D), Yumeka Brown (D), Eric France (D), Patrick Keating (D), Sidney Moore (D), Adal Regis (D), and Jeremy Young (D).
Committee assignments
2025-2026
Peters was assigned to the following committees:
- Appropriations - Public Safety and Infrastructure
- Criminal Law Committee
- Energy and Public Utilities Committee
- Labor Committee, Chair
- Revenue Committee
- Senate Special Committee on Tourism, Vice-Chair
- Transportation Committee
2023-2024
Peters was assigned to the following committees:
- Criminal Law Committee
- Environment and Conservation Committee
- Behavioral and Mental Health
- Human Rights Committee
- Labor Committee
- Revenue Committee
2021-2022
Peters was assigned to the following committees:
- Criminal Law Committee
- Environment and Conservation Committee
- Human Rights Committee
- Labor Committee
- Revenue Committee
2019-2020
Peters was assigned to the following committees:
- Criminal Law Committee
- Committee of the Whole
- Senate Health and Human Services Committee
- Senate Financial Institutions Committee
- Local Government Committee, Vice chair
- Telecommunications & InfoTechnology Committee
- Veterans Affairs Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: Illinois' 2nd Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.
General election for U.S. House Illinois District 2
Ashley Banks is running in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 2 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Ashley Banks (Independent)  | |
| ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Toni Brown | ||
 | Yumeka Brown | |
 | Eric France | |
 | Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. | |
 | Patrick Keating | |
 | Donna Miller | |
| Sidney Moore | ||
 | Robert Peters | |
 | Willie Preston | |
 | Adal Regis | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Robin Kelly (D)
- Jeremy Young (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2
Mike Noack and Ashley Ramos are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Mike Noack | |
 | Ashley Ramos | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Calvin Coleman (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yumeka Brown | Democratic Party | $69,400 | $17,448 | $51,953 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Toni Brown | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Eric France | Democratic Party | $13,091 | $11,283 | $1,808 | As of June 30, 2025 |
| Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. | Democratic Party | $95,029 | $40,237 | $54,792 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Patrick Keating | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Donna Miller | Democratic Party | $242,494 | $90,523 | $151,971 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Sidney Moore | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Robert Peters | Democratic Party | $693,183 | $347,495 | $345,688 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Willie Preston | Democratic Party | $79,354 | $34,977 | $44,377 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Adal Regis | Democratic Party | $66,615 | $47,934 | $10,824 | As of September 30, 2025 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[10][11][12]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
|---|---|
Note: As of November 19, 2025, Toni Brown (D) and Sidney Moore (D) had not filed as candidates with the Federal Election Commission.
Endorsements
Peters received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Independent)
- Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle (D)
- Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption
- Track AIPAC
2024
See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Illinois State Senate District 13
Incumbent Robert Peters won election in the general election for Illinois State Senate District 13 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Peters (D) | 100.0 | 64,018 |
| Total votes: 64,018 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- James Kirchner (R)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 13
Incumbent Robert Peters advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 13 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Peters | 100.0 | 22,553 |
| Total votes: 22,553 | |||
| = 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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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Peters in this election.
2022
See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Illinois State Senate District 13
Incumbent Robert Peters won election in the general election for Illinois State Senate District 13 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Peters (D) | 100.0 | 48,429 |
| Total votes: 48,429 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 13
Incumbent Robert Peters advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 13 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Peters | 100.0 | 22,180 |
| Total votes: 22,180 | |||
| = 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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2020
See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Illinois State Senate District 13
Incumbent Robert Peters won election in the general election for Illinois State Senate District 13 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Peters (D) | 100.0 | 79,024 |
| Total votes: 79,024 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 13
Incumbent Robert Peters defeated Ken Thomas in the Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 13 on March 17, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Peters | 53.3 | 21,646 |
 | Ken Thomas | 46.7 | 18,997 | |
| Total votes: 40,643 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Tamer Abouzeid (D)
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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Campaign website
Peters' campaign website stated the following:
Quality Healthcare for All
Robert isn't afraid to stand up to the health insurance industry. In Springfield, he took on predatory health insurers and expanded mental health coverage, providing people some relief from crushing health care costs. In Congress, he’ll push us further, fighting to roll back Trump’s cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare while passing laws like Medicare for All that make quality health care a universal guarantee. He’ll also work to bring a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center to the South Suburbs to save lives in our communities.
Housing We Can All Afford
Rent and home prices are out of control in America, driven by greedy landlords and Wall Street banks buying up our communities to profit from them. In Springfield, Robert worked to expand the senior property tax freeze so seniors and working class people can stay in their homes. In Congress, he’ll ban out-of-state corporations from jacking up rent and work to create more affordable units.
The Right to Retire with Dignity
Robert will not only fight Trump’s attacks on Social Security and Medicare, but he’ll work to expand Social Security benefits and force Medicare to negotiate down drug costs. That way, seniors can retire with dignity, not struggle to pay their bills.
An Economy that Works for Everyone
Robert has passed laws to help working families earn better pay and keep more of what they earned. He voted to raise the minimum wage, end the state sales tax on groceries, and ensure women and Black and Brown workers are paid what they deserve. He will continue that fight in Congress by working to lower the cost of living and bringing good-paying jobs here that people can afford to raise a family on. Robert will always stand with the labor movement, and in Congress, he’ll fight to pass the PRO Act to make sure everyone can organize their workplaces.
Protecting Our Immigrant Neighbors
ICE's invasion of our communities and tearing families apart is un-American, and we need to check Trump’s power. Robert will vote to ban Trump’s racist, illegal mass deportation raids, ban ICE from arresting people without warrants, and keep Trump’s masked men off our streets.
The Fight for Reproductive Rights
Robert helped lead the charge on the law that protected abortion rights and access in Illinois, and kept women in control of their own bodies. He’ll take on the anti-abortion activists who cut Planned Parenthood funding to get those critical health care services back, and he’ll work to restore abortion rights across America. Robert used IVF to start his own family, and he’ll fight to make sure everyone has the same ability to do so.
Public Safety for All
As the chair of the State Senate’s Black Caucus, Peters ended the broken bail system that kept low-income Illinoisans in jail just for being poor, while letting rich criminals off the hook, and he successfully strengthened community violence prevention programs. Robert knows that if we want to cut crime, we need a fairer criminal justice system and real investment in our neighborhoods.
— Robert Peters' campaign website (December 1, 2025)
Campaign ads
Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Robert Peters while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.
2024
Robert Peters did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Robert Peters did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Robert Peters completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Peters' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I struggled deeply in the early years of my life because I was unable to speak or hear. I struggled with my identity, my mother's mental illness, and alcoholism and experienced a great loss with the early deaths of my father and mother who passed away with $300,000 of housing debt. All of these experiences have moved me to want to build a world that takes care of me like my community did when things got tough. I am a fighter, not just for myself, but for all of the people out there who have and will experience the type of oppression and pain that capitalism and racism creates. That is why I am dedicated to the work that we do. This is why I want to continue to represent the 13th District.
- The last 40 years of crackdowns and cutbacks haven't served our communities or made us any safer. We need to reimagine our approach to public safety and violence prevention, through reinvesting in our neighborhoods, caring our communities and ending the system of mass incarceration of people of color.
- During my first term in office, I was the chief co-sponsor of 13 bills. All 13 bills passed in both chambers and were signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker.
- Building a 21st century Illinois .
2. DCFS and foster care system
We Got People is about the history of the people led movements from Jesse Jackson's "Rainbow Coalition" Presidential Campaigns to AOCs Congressional Campaign.
Soundtrack: The Last Black Man in San Francisco
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.
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.
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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.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 16 to May 29.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 27.
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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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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 13 to June 1.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 8 to May 23.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 9 through December 31.
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See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Illinois District 2 |
Officeholder Illinois State Senate District 13 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 17, 2020
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "Top candidates for the US House in Illinois’ 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th districts for the 2026 election," August 19, 2025
- ↑ CBS News, "Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. announces campaign for old seat," October 8, 2025
- ↑ Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. campaign website, "About," accessed November 21, 2025
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Donna Miller," accessed November 21, 2025
- ↑ Donna Miller campaign website, "Meet Donna," accessed November 21, 2025
- ↑ Robert Peters campaign website, "About Robert Peters," accessed November 21, 2025
- ↑ Willie Preston campaign website, "Home page," accessed November 21, 2025
- ↑ YouTube, "Preston for Congress Official Launch Video," August 19, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kwame Raoul (D) |
Illinois State Senate District 13 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
