Illinois Senate

The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber in the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois. Created in 1818 by the constitution of the first state, the Illinois senate is comprised 59 senators elected from individual legislative districts determined by population. According to Illinois' 1970 constitution, senators are divided into three groups, each group having a two-year term at a different part of the decade between censuses, with the rest of the decade being taken up by two four-year terms.^[1] Depending on the election year, roughly one-third, two-thirds, or all Senate seats may be contested. In contrast, the Illinois House of Representatives is made up of 118 members with its entire membership elected to two-year terms. House districts are formed by dividing each Senate district in half.^[2]

Inside the Illinois State Senate chamber.

Powers

The Illinois Senate meets at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. It is required to convene on the second January of each year.^[3] Along with the Illinois House of Representatives and The Governor of Illinois, it is vested with the power to make laws, come up with a state budget, act on federal constitutional amendments, and propose constitutional amendments to the state constitution.^[4] The Illinois Senate also holds the power to convict impeached executive and judicial officials with a 2/3 majority vote.^[5]

By party

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Democratic	Republican	Conservative		Vacant
End of previous legislature	40	19	0	59	0
Begin	37	22	0	59	0
April 19, 2018[6]		21	1
January 7, 2019[7]	40	19	0	59	0
Latest voting share	67.8%	32.2%	0%

List of Senate Presidents

#	President	Party	General Assembly	Date of election
32	William C. Harris	Republican	78th	January 10, 1973
33	Cecil A. Partee	Democrat	79th	January 8, 1975
34	Thomas C. Hynes	Democrat	80th	February 16, 1977
35	Philip J. Rock	Democrat	81st	January 10, 1979
			82nd
			83rd
			84th
85th
86th
87th
36	James "Pate" Philip	Republican	88th	January 13, 1993
			89th
			90th
91st
92nd
37	Emil Jones, Jr.	Democrat	93rd	January 8, 2003
			94th
95th
38	John Cullerton	Democrat	96th	January 14, 2009
			97th
			98th
			99th
			100th
101st
39	Don Harmon	Democrat	101st	January 19, 2020
			102nd
			103rd
			104th

Future Senate Elections by District

State Senators will be elected in the legislative districts for terms of office as set forth below.

FIRST GROUP (Districts 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, 59)

2026 -4 Years

2030 - 2 Years

SECOND GROUP (Districts 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54, 57)

2026 - 2 Years

2028 - 4 Years

THIRD GROUP (Districts 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 58)

2028-4 Years