Candidate name: Rep. Robin Kelly
State: Illinois
Bio: Rep. Robin Kelly was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives before being elected to represent the 2nd Congressional District in 2013. Since then the lawmaker, who has a Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University, has pushed to expand economic opportunity, generate jobs, bolster community health and wellness, and promote U.S. diplomacy and sound foreign policy.
Public safety is a major issue for Kelly, whose district includes Chicago. She is a co-chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and authored the 2014 Kelly Report on Gun Violence in America, the first-ever congressional analysis of the nation’s gun-violence epidemic. In 2017 she addressed colleagues on the House floor; she’d brought along photos of victims: “I’ve come here begging for commonsense reforms that prevent children from being shot while playing at a playground. I’ve begged, I’ve pleaded, I’ve screamed, I’ve cried,” she said. Kelly also co-chairs the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls and is chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust.
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