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Mary E. Flowers
American politician (born 1951) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mary E. Flowers (born July 31, 1951) is a former Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives. Representative Flowers was the longest serving African-American legislator in Illinois history.[1] She represented the 31st district from January 9, 1985 to January 13, 1993,[2] represented the 21st district from January 13, 1993 to January 8, 2003, and represented the 31st district again from January 8, 2003 to January 8, 2025.[3]
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Early life and education
Flowers was born on July 31, 1951, in Inverness, Mississippi. Her family moved to Chicago when she was a child. She attended local schools in Chicago, Kennedy King Community College and the University of Illinois at Chicago.[4]
Political career
Mary Flowers was first elected to the 84th General Assembly as a Democrat from the 31st district in 1985. She served 20 terms as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and served as a House Deputy Majority Leader for the 103rd General Assembly.[5][3]
In May 2023, Flowers was removed from her leadership position in the General Assembly by Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch, allegedly for using a slur and saying that a House staffer resembled Adolf Hitler.[6] Flowers replied that the Speaker had taken her remarks out of context.[7] In 2024, Welch directed more than $1.6 million in campaign contributions to Flowers' challenger in the 2024 Democratic primary.[8] Crawford ultimately defeated Flowers in the primary.[9]
At the conclusion of the legislative session in January 2025, Flowers had served forty years in the Illinois House of Representatives—the longest tenure of any woman in the history of the Illinois General Assembly.[10]
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Illinois State Representative
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Committees
During her tenure in the Illinois House of Representatives, Flowers served on several different committees covering a range of topics and issues in the House of Representatives. Below is a list of her historical committee assignments.[11][12]
As of 2024, Flowers had no committee assignments.[13]
Legislation
Flowers' primary legislative focus was on health and child welfare matters. She was the principal sponsor of legislation related to medical patients rights, medical managed care reform, health insurance reforms, hospital and nursing home staffing standards, licensure of direct-entry midwives, adverse health event reporting, health facility regulatory reform, medical and dental practice reforms, and public health/communicable disease control.
Flowers was the primary sponsor of several laws, including:[11][14][15]
Representative Flowers supported universal health care, and repeatedly filed related legislation and conducted public hearings to promote such reforms throughout her legislative career – House Bill 311, The Illinois Universal Health Care Act – of the 97th General Assembly is the primary model.
Flowers emphasized the safety of children in substitute care within the child welfare system regulated and administered by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, an agency and system that has experienced repeated tragedies and the subject of continuous judicial oversight.[16][17]
Flowers received several awards during her tenure, including 1993 "Legislator of the Year" award from Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association, which became the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health Care.[18]
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Personal life
Flowers was married to Daniel Coutee; the couple have one daughter, Makeda. Coutee died in September 2019.[19] Flowers also has two grandchildren.[20]
Electoral history
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References
External links
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