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New IL Senate with New Leader Convenes This Week
The new Illinois Senate will convene this week, with a new president.

The Senate president will be Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago), who won the support of all Democratic senators in November to win the spot. He says he and his predecessor have shown that a Senate president from Chicago is nothing for Downstate and suburban lawmakers to fear.

"Emil Jones and I are both from Chicago, and we both have similar voting records, and Emil showed the Downstaters that he could treat them fairly, and I'm gonna do the same thing," he said.

Cullerton said he will not impose his political views on senators who disagree. He acknowledges that 37 Democratic senators will have different interests, whether they are geographical, social, demographic or fiscal, and he will have to balance those interests.

Democrats in the Senate will have 16 members from Chicago, 13 from the suburbs and eight from Downstate. Republicans will have none from Chicago, 10 from the suburbs and 12 from Downstate.

Cullerton is the second Senate president in a row from Chicago . Prior to Jones becoming president in 2003, the Illinois Senate was not led by a Chicagoan since Thomas C. Hynes, 1977-79.

The new state Senate is scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday.

(Illinois Radio Network)
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