Benjamin “Ben” McAdams: 2026 candidate Illinois Senate District 24

Bio

Office sought: Illinois Senate District 24

Party: Democrat

City: Bloomingdale

Age: 30

Previous offices held: Not Applicable

Q&A

What do you consider the three most pressing issues facing the state in the next four years, and how should they be addressed?

Illinoisans are squeezed by a high cost of living. Property taxes, utility bills, gas, groceries, and healthcare are all rising. Illinois has a regressive tax system. We need to reform our property and income tax systems to ease the burden on the average Illinois household. Furthermore, passing legislation like the POWER Act to regulate data centers will help keep utility prices down for consumers statewide.

To protect our elections & democracy, we need ethics reform and to get money out of politics. Elected officials should be answerable to their constituents and not donors. Tightening laws around insider trading and limiting corporate campaign contributions will weaken the corrupt influence of dark money in our government. Communities all across the state and the 24th district are seeing data centers being proposed or built nearby. These projects raise environmental concerns, negatively affect home property values through noise pollution, and strain local utilities such as water & electricity grids, raising prices during a statewide financial strain. As mentioned above, we need legislation like the POWER Act to address these concerns and protect Illinois residents and consumers.

How would you assess the General Assembly's handling, to date, of the various proposals surrounding a Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights? What proposals would you have been willing to support and in what ways, if any, might you have approached it differently?

I feel that all parties are frustrated with how negotiations around the Bears stadium have gone, especially the fans. I don’t believe that our state should be responsible for paying for a new stadium for a multibillion-dollar franchise. Corporate profits are at record highs in our country, and that is also true for the NFL. At a time when prices are rising and Illinoisans are struggling to get by, we do not need to spend millions of public dollars covering a multibillion-dollar entity’s expenses so they can pocket more money. Those funds need to be used to directly support Illinoisans.

Where I do see room for collaboration is public funding for infrastructure to support a new stadium, whether that be in Arlington Heights or elsewhere in the state. A new stadium would need to make it easy for fans to get to and from the location. This would benefit the local communities and businesses in the area, which I see as a much more positive use of public funds. Investments in green energy to power this infrastructure will provide long-term benefits and offset the costs to taxpayers.

Now roughly three years into the elimination of cash bail in Illinois as part of the SAFE-T Act, how would you assess the success or failure of the criminal justice reform measure? What changes, if any, would you support?

Under the SAFE-T Act, we no longer have a one-size-fits-all approach but instead look at each person on an individual case-by-case basis. Now a judge will order someone to be held in detention “when it is determined that the defendant poses a specific, real and present threat to a person, or has a high likelihood of willful flight.” This system saves resources by making sure we aren’t locking up people unnecessarily, while maintaining community safety by keeping dangerous individuals in detention.

We can do more. The biggest change I would like to see made to our state's criminal justice system is more emphasis on rehabilitation. In the U.S., about 70% of people who are released from prison will be incarcerated again in the next few years. If we want to reduce crime, then we must invest in systems that reduce recidivism. By providing rehabilitation resources in and out of prison, I believe we can reduce crime and increase public safety. In the 1990s, Norway had a recidivism rate similar to the U.S. today; now it is down to 25%. Nordic countries accomplished this by focusing on rehabilitation. I believe we can learn many lessons from what worked and what didn't in this example.

Illinois homeowners face one of the highest relative property tax burdens in the country. What specific proposals could you offer to ease the burden on state residents?

Illinois’ funding formula, which relies heavily on property taxes, is outdated and burdens the average Illinois family. I support the proposal for a 3% tax on income over $1 million to provide property tax relief. Most states already have a graduated income tax, including our neighbors in Wisconsin and Missouri, both of which have lower effective tax rates than ours. Under this proposal, 99% of Illinoisans (including nearly every resident of Senate District #24) would not see an increase in their income tax while seeing a lower property tax bill.

Massachusetts passed a similar tax four years ago. It has not only provided crucial education funding for Massachusetts, but it has also outpaced revenue projections (Massachusetts projected $2.4 billion this year but brought in almost $3.4 billion). This tax would bring in much-needed revenue and provide property tax relief for our residents.

Gov. JB Pritzker recently paused a state initiative granting incentives to data center developers, and residents statewide have concerns about how such developments are affecting their access to water, utility rates, and the environment. How should the state approach data centers going forward?

We absolutely need to pass data center regulations to ensure that any being built are not harmful to our communities. I believe legislation like the POWER Act is a good starting point for this regulation. The POWER Act would require data centers to use closed water systems so they don't take water from Lake Michigan and other sources, thereby harming our local waterways. Additionally, it would require data centers to build their own renewable energy to power them. This would not only help the environment by reducing fossil fuel use, but it would also keep utility prices down by offsetting the increased electricity demand from these data centers.

While building data centers creates construction jobs, we need to make sure the ones being built are good community partners. The requirements of the POWER Act not only reduce the biggest harms of data centers, but also open the door to more potential jobs. Building, installing, and maintaining renewable energy and closed-loop water systems would add more jobs beyond building the center itself.

Illinois’ “sanctuary” policies concerning immigration have made it a target for the Trump administration and critics who say they encourage criminal behavior. How do you feel about those policies, and how, if at all, would you change them?

Our sanctuary policies have been critical in protecting immigrant communities across Illinois from the violent and deadly tactics being used by ICE under the Trump administration. People should not be afraid to leave their homes, to go to work, or drop their kids off at school. Illinois has done a good job of holding the line to protect the due process rights of our immigrant communities with the TRUST Act.

However, we can still do more to protect people. We have already banned ICE arrests at courthouses, and I would like to see us do the same at schools. ICE arrests are dangerous and have become increasingly deadly under the Trump administration. Earlier this month, ICE agents shot at a car in New York with a child inside. We need to keep children in Illinois safe from ICE. A school is no place for people with guns.

Many women in the legislature complain about a culture of sexual harassment in Springfield. Do you see evidence of this and, if so, what should be done about it?

There is clear evidence that this has been a long-standing issue in Springfield. Representative Benton's recent resignation further proves this. Staff and elected officials in Springfield already have mandatory sexual harassment training, but given this continues to be an issue, we desperately need to review these trainings. Harassment training should be meaningful, not just a box to check off for compliance. We need to identify where these trainings are falling short and update them accordingly.

Additionally, we need to create more avenues to report misconduct. Sexual misconduct and harassment happen more frequently when power dynamics are at play. In Springfield, your boss may not just be your boss; they may also be a powerful elected official. Fear of retaliation from someone like that is very real. We need independent third parties that victims can report to.

Are you satisfied with the state's existing ethics policies for senators and representatives? If so, what about the policies should reassure Illinoisans that elected leaders abide by high standards? If not, what changes need to be made?

We absolutely need more ethics reform in Springfield. I would support creating a cool-down period for elected officials before they become lobbyists, to stop the revolving door between the legislature and the corporate lobbying world. I would also like to see greater restrictions on corporate campaign contributions and other “dark money” sources. Since the Citizens United decision in 2010, we have seen an explosion of money in politics; this proliferation has harmed our democracy by making elected officials more accountable to donors than their voters. Earlier this year, Hawaii passed a law banning corporate contributions in elections. Adopting similar provisions in Illinois would be a step in the right direction.

We also need to reform the office of the Legislative Inspector General to make it more independent. Currently, the Inspector General reports solely to members of the General Assembly. This means the Inspector General reports to the same people they are tasked with overseeing. Adding non-legislative members to the board would make the office more independent.

What personal qualifications do you bring that would make you an effective legislator?

I am a lifelong resident of DuPage County, and my family has lived in Senate District 24 for 60 years. I went to college locally at Elmhurst University, where I majored in Economics and Finance. I got my law degree nearby at DePaul University. I know the people of this district because I’ve lived with them my whole life; they’re my friends and family.

I know they are a diverse group of people from all walks of life with a variety of beliefs, but they all care deeply about this community.

I’ve spent my career working with non-profits and in advocacy as a community organizer. My experiences have brought me into many different types of communities and taught me how crucial it is to listen actively. No one agrees on every issue, but that’s okay. We don’t need to agree to listen to one another. Above all else, that is what I will be as a State Senator: someone who listens. I believe government works best when it addresses the needs of its people, and we learn those needs by listening. For the residents of the 24th district, I will always be there to listen to their needs, regardless of who they are or their background.