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William Volny

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William Volny

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Candidate, U.S. House Illinois District 7

Elections and appointments
Next election

March 17, 2026

Education

High school

Ypsilanti Public High School

Associate

Robert Morris University, 2010

Bachelor's

Roosevelt University, 2024

Personal
Birthplace
Park Ridge, Ill.
Religion
Humanist
Profession
Customer Service
Contact

William Volny (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Illinois' 7th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 17, 2026.[source]

Volny completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

William Volny was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. He earned an associate degree from Robert Morris University in 2010 and a bachelor's degree from Roosevelt University in 2024. His career experience includes working in customer service and as a line cook and butcher.[1]

Elections

2026

See also: Illinois' 7th 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 7

Nathan Billips is running in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 7 on November 3, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Nathan Billips
Nathan Billips (Independent)

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 7

The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 7 on March 17, 2026.


Candidate Connection = 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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Endorsements

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Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

William Volny completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Volny'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 have been a member of the working class for my whole life. Working in restaurants and retail I have met countless excellent hard-working people from all over the world. Being uninsured for the entire time I worked in restaurants took a toll on me but it gave me a unique perspective of the world and the people in it. I decided to leave the culinary field to go back to school and get my BA in Paralegal Studies. While in school I did an internship with a company that helped people find representation when facing eviction and pointed them to renter's rights laws. I am very passionate about worker's rights as well, advocating for union representation in various workplaces. I spend my time away from work with my two dogs, Layla & Tracey. Or you can find me catching a movie at the Siskel or Music Box.
  • Getting support for the Working Class by increasing wages, access to healthcare, and guaranteed protections for health & safety. I witness the struggles of the Working Class everyday. People have to choose between going to work sick or losing their job, it's a never-ending cycle that is being made worse. We need to stop this and improve the situation immediately.


    $15/hr National minimum wage, $25/hr minimum wage for major cities. Free healthcare. Easy access to legal representation.
  • We need to support Ukraine fully. The most recent peace talk deals that would cede Crimea to Russia and bar them from joining NATO are an outrage. We need to take back Congress with progressives that will stop everything Trump is trying to accomplish on the World stage. Israel is committing genocide on the Palestinian people and we have the ability to stop it. We need to recognize the State of Palestine and help to rebuild Gaza. In order to begin the process of establishing peace between Israel and Palestine, Netanyahu needs to be removed from power. He is overseeing the murder of thousands of civilians, including children and his actions are creating Antisemitism and Islamophobia.
  • We need to start kids on the path to knowledge and discovery Pre-K. Funding programs that support parents to take part in their education. Programs need to be created to expose children to career paths they can explore. Student parents need access to transportation and childcare to allow them to focus on their education. Student debt needs to be completely erased. An entire generation of people have a crippling amount of student debt that they will never be able to pay. This needs to be eliminated so they can invest in their future. At the same time, public colleges & trade schools need to be free or low cost. This would create wealth in our economy and prevent another generation from being saddled with debt.
Establishing a minimum wage.

Free healthcare for everyone.
Decrease funding to defense while increasing funding to humanitarian aid.
Actually supporting our troops.
Affordable housing.
Free Palestine.
Regulating AI.
Major increased funding for the Arts.
Rejoin the Paris Accords.
Stricter gun laws.
Affordable housing.
Infrastructure improvements and moving our rail system into the future.
Criminal justice reform.

Restructuring police funding.
My mom and dad told me about Martin Luther King Jr a lot, I very much look up to him. Recently, I've been reading a book of essays & speeches by Eldridge Cleaver. In it he talks about Stokely Carmichael, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, and Huey P. Newton. Very strong individuals.

All humans have flaws so I try to find characteristics in people that I aspire to. Patience, passion, love, anger, integrity, peace.
Honesty and Integrity are the two most important characteristics for elected officials. It is important to remember that you are there to represent your constituents. The people have chosen you because they trust you to lead them forward. Part of being honest is being straightforward with everyone, you may upset some people but it is better to be direct than to dance around the truth. So many elected officials today lack a backbone and have given up their integrity for wealth and power. This is shameful and unacceptable. This isn't about you, it is about the people you represent.
It is the responsibility of elected officials to regularly interact with their constituents to hear the things they have to say. And to use this information to enact legislation that supports their constituents, and the American people in general, needs.
I'm not too concerned with my personal legacy. I just hope to help people have happier and easier lives. I don't expect anyone to remember my accomplishments though.
I was too young to remember Ronald Reagan but I sure remember my parents complaining about him! I think it would have been Clinton's first inauguration in 1993, I would have just turned 8.
Besides a local paper route when I was a kid, my first job was at Tio's Mexican Cafe in Ypsilanti, MI. I worked there for three years as a busser, dishwasher, cook, and manager.
I don't think I have a favorite book. I cherish books. Used bookstores are some of my favorite places. The texture and smell of a well-read book. Great.
The two year term is great because if someone is doing terrible or if they discover it is overwhelming to them, they can be voted out/step down relatively quickly. Although there should be more representatives, it is good to have representation based on population. The power of impeachment is pretty significant also.
No, not at all. It is more important that they have experience working with people. I also look for someone who listens and shows compassion. Experience in government or politics seems to be a negative lately.
Repairing our relationships with the International community. Getting legislation in place that will stick when people come in to power that are like the current regime. We have a corrupt President, a corrupt Congress, a dastardly Supreme Court, and there's little we can do to stand in their way. It will take a decade to repair the damage that has already been done.
Maybe three years would better, but two seems about right. I only say three because the election cycle is so long. It seems like you have to gear up for re-election almost immediately with a two year term.
I support term limits. For people to be in office for 30+ years is insane. You lose touch with reality. We need people in office that still have passion and are aware of the world we live in. I would think ten years would be a good amount of time, give you time to making a lasting impact that someone can build upon.
Oh boy, that's a tough question. I can't think of any off the top of my head.
Desirable? No. This is people's lives we're talking about. There is no compromise, this isn't a game. Necessary? Maybe if your own party needs some sort of reasonable compromise to get some important legislation through. The American people are not a bargaining chip.
Just enforcing this would probably ne enough. You have a President AND members of the House that don't respect this power or the Impoundment Control Act AND federal courts that just do what they're told, so I would stand on ground that this be used to rein in the White House. Members of the House have more power than they lead us to believe.
More aggressively. Again though, it takes a Congress that actually cares what the findings of these investigations are. Rather than just pushing through awful people who will make them richer.
I quit drinking on November 11th, 2021. I'm pretty damn proud of that.
The government should regulate it. It's being used to hurt people. It also is going to hinder any advancements we make to address climate change. It's going to be in everything sooner rather than later so we'll have to embrace it to a certain degree. Honestly, we've been using AI for years already, it's just not called that. The government just needs to make sure it's used responsibly.
Election Day made into a federal holiday.

Early voting starting earlier.
Mail-in/absentee voting expanded.
Online voter registration.

Increase protection from voter intimidation tactics.

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.


William Volny campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2026* U.S. House Illinois District 7Candidacy Declared primary$0 N/A**
Grand total$0 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 from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 11, 2025


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