From social worker to senator, Santa Maria is latest Arlington Heights trustee off to Springfield

Carina Santa Maria’s ascent from social worker to Arlington Heights village trustee — and come January, state legislator — has happened quickly.

And her path to the state Capitol has been even quicker than those of former village trustees Mary Beth Canty and Nicolle Grasse, two fellow Arlington Democrats whose House districts make up Santa Maria’s new Senate district.

Santa Maria’s political journey started as a petitioner to the village board, when, as CEO of Arlington Heights-based child welfare agency Shelter Inc., she lobbied Canty, Grasse and other board members to allow a group home for young men in the Ivy Hill neighborhood.

Until that 2021 experience — marked by months of neighborhood opposition and a contentious municipal approval process — Santa Maria didn’t have much direct involvement in politics.

“I learned a lot from that process, including that the board at the time — and not just the Arlington Heights board, but most village boards and most politics, if I’m being honest — are not representative of people who are closest to the problem,” she said. “Child welfare and foster care is something that’s near and dear to my heart. Most of my career people have said, ‘You’re doing such great work,’ and it was the first time that there was such opposition. … (It) really opened up my eyes and energized me in a whole different way to make sure that there are voices at the table of people with lived experience or close to people who have lived experience of the issue.”

In the wake of her electoral victory in the 27th Senate District race last week, Santa Maria said she plans to take lessons from that episode and other things she’s learned in local government to Springfield, where she will take her oath in January.

Like Grasse and Canty before her, Santa Maria told the Daily Herald she plans to serve concurrently on the village board, where her term runs until spring 2029.

She says affordability will be among her top priorities in the General Assembly. She hopes to see renewed conversations about a progressive income tax, and wants to protect preventive health programs that are often on the chopping block during budget talks.

One of the first things Santa Maria said she wants to do is pass a law ending child marriage in Illinois.

But the topic she’s often asked about — the prospect of a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights — may not come across her desk by the time she gets to Springfield.

“I think it’ll be on my plate from a trustee perspective,” said Santa Maria, who noted the “deep conversations” to come during the upcoming veto session that opens Nov. 17.

Lawmakers are expected to consider a measure that would allow municipalities like Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local public stadium authorities, in a bid to prevent the NFL franchise from utilizing similar legislation approved by Indiana.

The Illinois Senate advanced an eleventh-hour version of such a mechanism at the end of the spring session in June, after rejecting the House’s preferred plan: so-called megaproject legislation that would have allowed the Bears to negotiate property tax payments with local taxing bodies.

Should she get a vote, Santa Maria said she’s open to either proposal.

“The biggest thing is we need to protect our taxpayer dollars, and so ensuring that the people of Arlington Heights as well as the surrounding communities are not taking the brunt of having to pay for that — I’m open to both options as long as that’s what happens,” she said.

Santa Maria’s Senate district — now represented by retiring Arlington Heights Democrat Mark Walker — makes up a broad swath of the Northwest suburbs, including parts of Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Barrington, Inverness, Palatine, Prospect Heights and South Barrington.

While she has left her professional role at Shelter, Santa Maria said she believes she can serve effectively in both elected positions.

“I feel strongly that I made a commitment to the people of Arlington Heights, and they elected me as a trustee with what I stood on and what my values are, and so I want to be sure to see that commitment out,” she said. “People sometimes say a lot of things about that, and they say you can’t be a legislator if you’re representing Arlington Heights. But Arlington Heights is in my district. I would always represent all of them fairly. It’s kind of like being a parent. You don’t have a favorite child. You do what’s best for each one of them.”

cplacek@dailyherald.com