Deborah L. Halvorson

Background

Deborah L. DeFrancesco Halvorson was born on March 1, 1958, in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to Richard and Joyce DeFrancesco. She grew up in the south suburban Chicago area and graduated from Bloom High School in 1976. Before entering public office, she spent approximately fourteen years in cosmetics sales and operated a small business. Her political interests were shaped in part by family experiences with inadequate access to health insurance: her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her forties, and the family struggled to obtain affordable coverage afterward. Halvorson later connected those experiences with her legislative advocacy on health care and cancer prevention.

Education

Halvorson graduated from Bloom High School in 1976. She attended Robert Morris College and Prairie State College before completing an Associate in General Studies at Prairie State College in 1998. While serving in the Illinois Senate, she continued her education at Governors State University in University Park, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2001 and a Master of Arts degree in 2003. Her studies and degrees were associated with communications, including communications and training.

Career

Halvorson began her working life in cosmetics sales and operated a small business before entering local government. In 1993 she was elected clerk of Crete Township, Illinois, a position she held through 1996. Recruited by Illinois Democratic leaders to seek higher office, she defeated incumbent Republican state senator Aldo DeAngelis in 1996 and served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 through 2008. During her state legislative career she sponsored measures concerning prescription-drug costs for seniors, nursing-home abuse, cervical-cancer prevention, landfill regulation, and ethics reform. In 2005 she became the first woman to serve as majority leader of the Illinois Senate; she also served as majority caucus chair and minority caucus whip at different points in her legislative career. Halvorson won election to the U.S. House in 2008 and represented Illinois’s 11th Congressional District from January 3, 2009, through January 3, 2011. She served on the Agriculture, Small Business, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees, co-chaired the New Democrat Caucus energy task force, and participated in the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. In Congress she supported health-care reform, alternative-energy investment, emissions-reduction legislation, and veterans’ benefits, including legislation to eliminate health-care copayments for veterans with catastrophic injuries. After leaving Congress, she worked as an alternative-energy consultant and continued in government consulting and business leadership through Solutions Unlimited and American Eagle Logistics. She later sought elective office in Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District in the 2012 Democratic primary and the 2013 special Democratic primary, but was not nominated.

Achievements

• Became the first woman to serve as majority leader of the Illinois Senate in 2005.

• Sponsored Illinois legislation addressing prescription-drug costs for seniors, nursing-home abuse, cervical-cancer prevention, landfill regulation, and ethics reform.

• Served on the Agriculture, Small Business, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees of the U.S. House during the 111th Congress.

• Co-chaired the New Democrat Caucus energy task force while serving in the U.S. House.

Works

• political memoir

  • Playing Ball with the Big Boys: And Why the Big Girls Better Get in the Game

    (A memoir by Debbie Halvorson about her path from local go...)

    2012

Religion

Halvorson is identified with the Lutheran faith.

Politics

Halvorson is a Democrat who represented Illinois in the state senate and the United States House of Representatives. She described herself as fiscally conservative, socially conscious, and moderate-to-conservative, and joined the centrist New Democrat Caucus while serving in Congress.

Views

Halvorson has expressed a commitment to practical public service, expanding opportunity, helping people who lack adequate access to health care, and encouraging women to seek political leadership without abandoning their personal values.

Membership

Halvorson has been associated with the League of Women Voters of the Homewood-Flossmoor chapter, the National Organization of Women Legislators, the Professional Women’s Network, Chicago Heights Business and Professional Women, the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce, the Crete Women’s Club, and Altrusa. Her participation in women’s civic, professional, and legislative organizations accompanied her public service in Illinois and Congress.

• League of Women Voters, Homewood-Flossmoor chapter , United States

• Served on the board of directors.

  National Organization of Women Legislators , United States

• Professional Women’s Network , United States

• Chicago Heights Business and Professional Women , United States

• Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce , United States

• Crete Women’s Club , United States

• Altrusa , United States

Personality

Halvorson has described her public-service mission as leveling the playing field, bringing government closer to ordinary people, and helping others. Her public statements and memoir emphasize persistence, personal responsibility, commitment to one's values, and the importance of women participating directly in political life.

Quotes from others about the person

• Illinois political and institutional biographies have described Halvorson as the first woman to serve as majority leader of the Illinois Senate and have recognized her advocacy on education, health care, veterans’ issues, and women’s participation in public life.

Interests

• Government consulting, alternative energy, logistics, women’s political participation, and civic engagement.

• Politicians

  Barack Obama is discussed in Halvorson’s political memoir in connection with their early encounters during the 1996 Illinois Senate campaign.

Connections

Halvorson is the daughter of Richard and Joyce DeFrancesco. She married Gordon Halvorson after graduating from high school and had two children; the marriage later ended in divorce. She subsequently married Jim Bush and has stepchildren and grandchildren. She and her family have been associated with Crete, Illinois, where she lived during her Illinois political career.

Father:

Richard DeFrancesco

Halvorson’s father, who worked as a self-employed furniture restorer.

Mother:

Joyce DeFrancesco

Halvorson’s mother.

Spouse:

Jim Bush

Halvorson’s second husband.

References

• U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives Documents Halvorson’s birth, education, service as Crete Township clerk, Illinois Senate career, majority leadership, congressional service, committee assignments, later consulting work, and congressional campaigns.
• Illinois General Assembly Provides a legislative biography identifying Halvorson’s education, awards, Illinois Senate service, majority leadership, family, and residence in Crete.
• NPR Illinois Discusses Halvorson’s memoir, her political career, her 1993 election as Crete Township clerk, and her legislative record.
  2013
• Federal Election Commission Documents Halvorson’s 2013 candidacy for the Democratic nomination in Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District.