This Giving Tuesday, help ensure voters have the information they need to make confident, informed decisions. Donate now!
Halley Johnson
From Ballotpedia
Halley Johnson (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Illinois House of Representatives to represent District 112. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 17, 2026.[source]
Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Halley Johnson was born in Maryville, Illinois. She earned a high school diploma from Granite City High School. Her career experience includes working as a self-employed individual.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 112
Incumbent Katie Stuart (D) and Halley Johnson (D) are running in the Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 112 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Katie Stuart | |
 | Halley Johnson  | |
| ||||
| = 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
Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 112
Jimmy Ford (R) is running in the Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 112 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Jimmy Ford | ||
| ||||
| = 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
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Halley Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Johnson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I’m a working-class candidate who knows what it means to struggle, to serve others, and to fight for a fair shot. I grew up in Southern Illinois, raised by a single mom and a father who spent time in prison. I’ve waited tables, studied full-time, and built this campaign without a political machine or family wealth behind me. I’m running because families like mine deserve more than speeches and empty promises. We deserve leaders who understand that economic security, safety, and opportunity are not privileges, but they are rights. I’m part of a new generation that isn’t waiting our turn. We’re stepping up to build a future that works for all of us.
- Families shouldn’t be crushed by the cost of living while corporations get tax breaks. I’m running to deliver economic relief for the middle and working class, not the well-connected. That means property tax reform, regulating excessive on essentials, and making sure families, not lobbyists, decide our future. I know what it’s like to budget tips, stretch groceries, and work two paths at once. My lived experience is not theory. It is proof that leadership belongs to the people who feel the impact of bad policy the most. I will fight for a government that prioritizes families, not corporate profit.
- Freedom is not a slogan, it’s the right to feel safe in your community, secure in your home, and hopeful about your future. That includes freedom from gun violence, freedom from addiction and relapse cycles, and freedom from a system that treats working people as expendable. I will fight for mental health access, community safety, and policies that protect our kids instead of padding campaign donors. Real freedom is not about political theater. It’s about whether families can live with dignity and opportunity.
- This campaign is about the future, not the past. The old political class has had years to fix these problems and chose not to. I’m the youngest candidate in this race because the next generation is done waiting for permission to lead. We’re not tied to the status quo, the backroom deals, or the “that’s just how it’s always been” mindset. I’m running to bring transparency, accountability, and a voice for the people who are too often left out of the room. When working people lead, communities rise. This election is not about experience inside the system. It’s about who has the courage to change it.
I am passionate about policies that protect working families and restore economic fairness. That includes property tax reform, middle-class tax relief, and holding corporations accountable when they profit off the backs of communities. I believe freedom must include safety from gun violence, from predatory pricing, and from cycles of addiction without treatment. I support investments in mental health, community safety, and public schools that prepare every child to thrive, not just survive. I’m focused on building a government that works for the people who do the work, not those who already have power, wealth, and access.
I look up to leaders who didn’t wait for permission — people like Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Shirley Chisholm. They didn’t enter politics to blend in. They entered to confront power, open doors, and change what leadership looks like. I don’t want to follow their path exactly, I want to follow their courage
An elected official should have the courage to tell the truth, the discipline to do the work, and the integrity to put people above political convenience. Public service is not a career ladder or a spotlight; it is a responsibility to the families who can’t afford for lawmakers to get it wrong. The job requires transparency, accountability, and a willingness to stand up to wealthy interests when the cost of silence falls on working people.
A state representative is the voice of their district in the room where laws are written. That means listening to the people you serve, writing legislation that reflects their needs, and holding government accountable when it forgets who it works for. The core responsibility is simple: protect the well-being, safety, and economic dignity of the people who sent you there, not the politicians or corporations who already have access and power.
I want to leave a legacy that proves you don’t need money, connections, or a famous last name to change your community, you just need conviction and the courage to act on it. If future young people, especially those who grew up like I did, look at my campaign and think, “If she can do it, I can too,” then I’ll know I didn’t just run for office. I widened the path.
The first major event I remember is Barack Obama’s election in 2008. I was a kid, but I remember the feeling more than the politics, the sense that history wasn’t something written in books, but something people could still shape. It was the first time I realized that leadership could look different, sound different, and come from outside the mold.
My first job was serving at a local restaurant, and like a lot of people in my generation, I didn’t have it for “extra money” — I had it because it was the only way to afford school, gas, and groceries. I worked there for almost four years, and it taught me more about people, dignity, and hard work than any classroom ever could. Once you’ve worked for tips, you never forget who really keeps the world running.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. It’s not just a book, it’s a confrontation with truth. Baldwin forces you to look at the gap between the America we promise and the America we live in. It reminds me that politics isn’t about power for its own sake, it’s about closing that gap so dignity isn’t conditional.
Olivia Pope, but without having to clean up everyone else’s mess. She’s brilliant, unshakeable, and refuses to let powerful people rewrite reality. I relate to her because she doesn’t wait for permission to act, she takes the room, speaks the truth, and changes the stakes.
Growing up, stability was never guaranteed. My dad was in and out of prison, my mom was doing her best, and I learned early that if I wanted a future, I’d have to build it myself. Working as a server while putting myself through school taught me how hard people fight just to stay afloat. That struggle shaped me, not into someone bitter about the system, but someone determined to change it.
The governor and the legislature should work together, not for each other. The legislature is not a rubber stamp for the executive branch, and the governor is not a ceremonial signature. The ideal relationship is one of cooperation with boundaries: shared goals, independent judgment, and mutual accountability. Checks and balances only work when both branches respect the people more than they protect their own power.
Illinois faces three connected challenges: economic inequality, declining trust in government, and the loss of young families who no longer believe the state works for them. If we don’t make Illinois affordable, accountable, and safe, we will watch more talent leave, more families struggle, and more power concentrate in the hands of a few. The next decade will decide whether Illinois becomes a state people build a future in, or move away from.
Experience can be useful, but it is not the same as good judgment. Some of the worst decisions in government were made by people with long résumés and short memories of who they serve. What matters most is whether you understand the realities of the people you represent, not whether you’ve spent years inside the system. Fresh perspective is not a weakness. It’s often the only way real change begins.
Yes relationships matter, but not at the expense of the people you serve. Coalitions get bills passed. Cliques protect the status quo. I believe in working with anyone; Democrat, Republican, independent, who stands up for working families and economic fairness. Cooperation is a tool. Compromise is a tactic. But values should never be negotiable.
I look to leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris, people who entered public office not to inherit power, but to challenge it. They lead with moral clarity, unapologetically fight for working people, and refuse to shrink themselves to fit a political mold. I admire their ability to combine policy depth with lived experience, and to make government feel like it belongs to the people again.
My focus is on doing this job well, not collecting titles. If I earn the trust of the people I represent and there comes a point where I can serve them more effectively in a different role, I would consider it, but right now, the work that matters is here.
A woman I met while collecting signatures told me she works full-time, raises two kids, and still can’t afford the property taxes on the house she grew up in. She said, “I’m not asking for a handout. I’m asking not to be punished for staying.” That conversation is why I’m running. People shouldn’t have to abandon the communities they love just to survive in them.
Emergency powers should exist, but never without legislative oversight. No single official, governor or otherwise, should have unchecked authority, even in crisis. The legislature must retain the ability to review, limit, or end emergency powers to protect civil liberties and prevent executive overreach.
The first bill I will introduce is the Corporate Accountability & Fair Share Tax Act, because working families should not be paying higher tax rates than corporations with lobbyists. This bill closes loopholes that reward companies for shifting profits out of Illinois, ends corporate tax giveaways that never deliver jobs, and uses the revenue to lower the burden on homeowners and small businesses.
I support making it easier, not harder, for citizens to place initiatives on the ballot. Democracy works best when power flows from the people up, not the other way around. We should modernize signature collection, reduce unnecessary barriers, and protect the ballot from big-money manipulation so grassroots voices can compete with corporate dollars.
A single dad I met while canvassing told me he works two jobs, still can’t afford healthcare, and feels invisible to the people in power. He said, “I’m not asking for help, I’m asking to matter.” That sentence hasn’t left me. Politics should start with the people who are hardest to hear, not the ones already seated at the table.
I’m proud that I built this campaign from nothing; no party backing, no wealthy donors, no political machine. Every signature I collected, every door I knocked, every late night I spent learning election law proved something to me: ordinary people can run for office without being born into power. And if we can break that barrier, we can break a lot more.
I would support automatic voter registration at 18, expanded early voting locations, and transparent audits of election vendors. Elections should be secure, accessible, and owned by the public; not private contractors, partisan operatives, or outdated systems that make voting harder than it needs to be.
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
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 3, 2025
Current members of the Illinois House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Emanuel Welch
Majority Leader:Robyn Gabel
Minority Leader:Tony McCombie
Representatives
District 1
Aaron Ortiz (D)
District 2
District 3
Eva-Dina Delgado (D)
District 4
Lilian Jiménez (D)
District 5
District 6
Sonya Harper (D)
District 7
Emanuel Welch (D)
District 8
La Shawn Ford (D)
District 9
Yolonda Morris (D)
District 10
District 11
Ann Williams (D)
District 12
Margaret Croke (D)
District 13
Hoan Huynh (D)
District 14
Kelly Cassidy (D)
District 15
Michael Kelly (D)
District 16
Kevin Olickal (D)
District 17
District 18
Robyn Gabel (D)
District 19
Lindsey LaPointe (D)
District 20
Brad Stephens (R)
District 21
District 22
District 23
Edgar Gonzalez (D)
District 24
Theresa Mah (D)
District 25
Curtis Tarver (D)
District 26
Kambium Buckner (D)
District 27
Justin Slaughter (D)
District 28
Robert Rita (D)
District 29
Thaddeus Jones (D)
District 30
William Davis (D)
District 31
Michael Crawford (D)
District 32
Lisa Davis (D)
District 33
Marcus Evans (D)
District 34
Nicholas Smith (D)
District 35
Mary Gill (D)
District 36
Rick Ryan (D)
District 37
Patrick Sheehan (R)
District 38
District 39
Will Guzzardi (D)
District 40
Jaime Andrade (D)
District 41
Janet Yang Rohr (D)
District 42
District 43
Anna Moeller (D)
District 44
Fred Crespo (D)
District 45
Martha Deuter (D)
District 46
District 47
Amy Grant (R)
District 48
District 49
Maura Hirschauer (D)
District 50
District 51
Nabeela Syed (D)
District 52
District 53
Nicolle Grasse (D)
District 54
Mary Beth Canty (D)
District 55
Martin Moylan (D)
District 56
Michelle Mussman (D)
District 57
Tracy Katz Muhl (D)
District 58
Bob Morgan (D)
District 59
Daniel Didech (D)
District 60
Rita Mayfield (D)
District 61
Joyce Mason (D)
District 62
Laura Dias (D)
District 63
Steven Reick (R)
District 64
Tom Weber (R)
District 65
Dan Ugaste (R)
District 66
Suzanne Ness (D)
District 67
Maurice West (D)
District 68
Dave Vella (D)
District 69
Joe Sosnowski (R)
District 70
Jeff Keicher (R)
District 71
Daniel Swanson (R)
District 72
Gregg Johnson (D)
District 73
Ryan Spain (R)
District 74
Brad Fritts (R)
District 75
Jed Davis (R)
District 76
Amy Briel (D)
District 77
Norma Hernandez (D)
District 78
Camille Lilly (D)
District 79
Jackie Haas (R)
District 80
Anthony DeLuca (D)
District 81
Anne Stava (D)
District 82
Nicole La Ha (R)
District 83
Matt Hanson (D)
District 84
District 85
Dagmara Avelar (D)
District 86
Lawrence Walsh (D)
District 87
Bill Hauter (R)
District 88
Regan Deering (R)
District 89
Tony McCombie (R)
District 90
John Cabello (R)
District 91
Sharon Chung (D)
District 92
District 93
Travis Weaver (R)
District 94
Norine Hammond (R)
District 95
Mike Coffey (R)
District 96
Sue Scherer (D)
District 97
Harry Benton (D)
District 98
Natalie Manley (D)
District 99
Kyle Moore (R)
District 100
C.D. Davidsmeyer (R)
District 101
Chris Miller (R)
District 102
Adam Niemerg (R)
District 103
Carol Ammons (D)
District 104
District 105
Dennis Tipsword (R)
District 106
Jason Bunting (R)
District 107
Brad Halbrook (R)
District 108
Wayne Rosenthal (R)
District 109
Charles Meier (R)
District 110
Blaine Wilhour (R)
District 111
Amy Elik (R)
District 112
Katie Stuart (D)
District 113
Jay Hoffman (D)
District 114
Kevin Schmidt (R)
District 115
David Friess (R)
District 116
Dave Severin (R)
District 117
District 118
Paul Jacobs (R)
Democratic Party (78)
Republican Party (40)
