Kerry Lester

Political Editor/Projects Writer

Kerry Lester is the Daily Herald's politics and projects writer, covering national, state and local politics through a suburban lens.

First hired as a part-time editorial assistant in the paper's features department, Kerry covered education before moving to the political beat in July 2010.

In this role, she has broken a number of national stories, including the decision of Tea Party firebrand Joe Walsh to switch Congressional districts in his bid for re-election, and the potentially costly decision of the Mitt Romney presidential campaign not to challenge the petitions of Rick Santorum in Illinois. She has written about the trajectory of House GOP Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam and the recovery of U.S. Senator Mark Kirk from a stroke extensively.

Kerry has won a number local and national awards from the Chicago Journalists Association, Inland Press Association and Chicago Headline Club.

The story she is proudest of is a series about the physical and emotional recovery of an Elgin teacher who was stabbed by a student inside her classroom in January 2008. The second half to that series - a probing look into the impulse behind the attack - came after Kerry spent more than three years working to obtain an interview with the incarcerated teen. These stories uncovered problems across the suburbs with how schools and police communicate about troubled teens and inspired a bill that is making its way through the state legislature.

A native of Des Plaines, Kerry earned a bachelor's degree from Villanova University and a master's degree from the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

She lives in Arlington Heights.

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Slain teen's mom Schneider’s guest for State of Union

Feb 10 2013 | 12:48 am - The mother of a slain Chicago teen who has quickly become the face of gun violence will be a suburban congressman’s guest to the State of the Union address Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

19-year-old charged with Hoffman Estates home invasion

Feb 09 2013 | 6:05 pm - A 19-year-old man was arrested Friday for invading a Hoffman Estates home on the block where he lived, police said. Stephen Delgado was charged with home invasion and criminal sexual assault.

DCFS places Maine West educators on child abuse, neglect registry

Feb 09 2013 | 6:40 pm - The Department of Children and Family Services has validated several claims of abuse and neglect filed against two Maine West educators following allegations of hazing in the school's sports program and put their names on a state list of child...

Mom to be Schakowsky's guest at State of the Union

Feb 08 2013 | 7:20 am - At the end of November, a young man named Justin Murray was shot and killed in Evanston. His mother, Carolyn Murray, will be Congresswoman Schakowsky's guest at the State of the Union this year as part of the Democratic effort to highlight the costs...

Walsh mulls SuperPAC to counterbalance Rove’s

Feb 07 2013 | 8:07 am - After being linked to them by his 8th District congressional opponent throughout his campaign for re-election, former Congressman Joe Walsh is now founding his own SuperPAC. “I’m filing the paperwork to form a super PAC to support...

Oberweis reserves conference room, in vain, to oust Brady

Feb 06 2013 | 4:58 am - Despite reserving a hotel conference room on his own dime, state Sen. Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove says he doesn't have the votes to go ahead with a Saturday meeting meant to oust Illinois GOP party Chairman Pat Brady. “It's now too late to...

Bill Daley: Lisa Madigan's moves won't affect mine

Feb 05 2013 | 7:51 am - Former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley says Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's next moves won't affect his potential bid for governor. She also is considering running in the 2014 Democratic primary.

Duffy mulls Taser legislation after friend's death

Feb 03 2013 | 6:14 am - The death of a friend he made on a quest to learn more about the needs of black communities has inspired a suburban state senator to look into authoring legislation regulating the use of stun-guns, or Tasers. “We need to look at stricter...

Schneider: 10th District poised to be voice in gun control debate

Feb 01 2013 | 5:25 am - Tenth District Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider, of Deerfield, told law enforcement officials, mental health workers, gun owners and suburban mayors that the North suburban 10th District has a unique voice in the national debate because of its...

Kirk, Giffords see lives intersect, again, over gun control

Jan 30 2013 | 9:51 pm - On Wednesday morning, as U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk was introducing bipartisan gun trafficking legislation, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, issuing a halting plea to Congress to "be bold. Be...

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