Pat Quinn (politician)

Patrick Joseph Quinn (born December 16, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as a political activist, founding the Coalition for Political Honesty, which organized citizen-initiated referendums advocating political reform. He later served as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Tax Appeals from 1982 to 1986, Illinois Treasurer from 1991 to 1995, and the 45th lieutenant governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University School of Law. He began his political career working as a campaign organizer and then aide to Illinois Governor Dan Walker before launching a series of citizen-led petition drives, including the 1976 Political Honesty Initiative and the 1980 Cutback Amendment, which reduced the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118. The amendment marked the first and only time Illinois voters used the initiative process to enact a constitutional amendment or law.

After the passage of the Cutback Amendment, Quinn continued to organize petition drives and was elected as a Commissioner on the Cook County Board of Appeals in 1982; he later served as revenue director in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. He was elected Treasurer of Illinois in 1990 and subsequently ran unsuccessful campaigns for secretary of state in 1994, United States senator in 1996, and Lieutenant Governor in 1998.

In 2002, Quinn won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois and was elected alongside gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich in the general election. Both Quinn and Blagojevich were reelected in 2006. Quinn assumed the governorship on January 29, 2009, after Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office on corruption charges.

Quinn won a full term in the 2010 gubernatorial election, winning by a margin of less than 1% against Republican state senator Bill Brady in an upset. While in office, Quinn worked to provide voters the power to recall the governor, passed a $31 billion capital construction plan, passed ethics reforms, legalized civil unions and same-sex marriage, expanded state coverage under the Affordable Care Act, instituted the Put Illinois to Work program, initiated the Illinois Secure Choice retirement savings program, and abolished the death penalty. He lost re-election in 2014 to the Republican nominee, Bruce Rauner. He later ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for attorney general of Illinois in 2018.