Carina Santa Maria: 2026 candidate Illinois Senate District 27

Bio

Office sought: Illinois Senate District 27

Party: Democrat

City: Arlington Heights

Age: 41

Previous offices held: Arlington Heights Village Trustee

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?

Three issues I believe Illinois must address are affordability, long-term fiscal stability, and access to essential services.

First, families are struggling with the cost of housing, property taxes, childcare, healthcare, and everyday necessities. Illinois should focus on lowering costs for working families, expanding affordable housing and childcare, and providing meaningful property-tax relief while ensuring our schools and communities remain strong.

Second, Illinois must continue improving its fiscal health. That means responsible, balanced budgets, addressing our long-term pension obligations, building reserves, and creating a fairer revenue system that does not disproportionately burden working and middle-class families.

Finally, we must protect and strengthen essential services, particularly mental health, child welfare, healthcare, and services for seniors and people with disabilities. We need to invest in the workforce providing these services, focus on prevention and early intervention, and ensure federal funding changes do not leave our most vulnerable residents behind.

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 believe the General Assembly has been right to insist that any Bears stadium proposal protect taxpayers, but the process has been too fragmented and too slow. A project of this magnitude requires careful scrutiny, but it also requires clear expectations and timely decision-making.

I would have been open to legislation providing long-term property tax certainty, provided our schools, local taxing bodies, and residents were protected and the agreement produced meaningful benefits for the community. I would also consider state participation in necessary public infrastructure: roads, transit, utilities, and public safety, when those investments have broader public benefit. I would not support using state dollars to build the stadium itself.

As an Arlington Heights Village Trustee, I understand both the tremendous opportunity and the legitimate concerns surrounding this development. I would have pushed earlier for all stakeholders; the Bears, state, Village, school districts, Cook County, and surrounding communities to be at the same table, with transparency, defined taxpayer protections, and a clear timeline for reaching an agreement.

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?

I support the fundamental principle behind eliminating cash bail: whether someone remains in jail before trial should be based on the risk they pose to the community or of willful flight, not on how much money they have. Three years in, I believe the reform has demonstrated that we can move away from a wealth-based system while still allowing judges to detain individuals who pose a serious public-safety risk.

At the same time, no major reform should be considered beyond review. I support continuing to evaluate data on rearrests, failures to appear, detention decisions, and outcomes for victims and defendants. Where the evidence identifies gaps, particularly involving repeat offenses or public-safety risks, I would support targeted changes that give judges appropriate tools while preserving due process.

My approach would be evidence-based: protect the progress we have made toward a fairer system, listen to law enforcement, victims, advocates, and the courts, and make adjustments when the data demonstrates they are needed.

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 homeowners need real property tax relief, and we cannot get there without addressing how we fund government in the first place. I support moving Illinois toward a graduated income tax system so that working- and middle-class families are not carrying a disproportionate share of the burden and additional revenue can be used to reduce our reliance on property taxes.

I would also use the Evidence-Based Funding formula as an important guide for increasing the state’s investment in public education, while recognizing that Illinois has many competing budget obligations and essential services to fund. The goal should be steady, responsible progress toward adequately funding our schools at the state level and reducing the disproportionate reliance on local property taxpayers.

Finally, we should pursue shared services and consolidation where they produce real savings without sacrificing quality. Property tax reform has to be comprehensive: a fairer revenue system, stronger state funding for schools, direct relief for homeowners, and greater accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent.

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?

Data centers can bring investment and jobs to Illinois, but that growth cannot come at the expense of families, our natural resources, or the communities where they locate. I support the framework of the POWER Act and strong statewide guardrails for data center development.

Data centers should cover the full costs of the infrastructure and enormous energy demands they create, not shift those costs onto residential ratepayers. They should also be responsible for bringing new, clean energy resources to the grid to meet their demand rather than putting additional strain on our existing energy supply.

We also need strong protections around water use, conservation and reuse, transparency around energy and water consumption, and meaningful community input before projects are approved.

Illinois can welcome innovation and economic development, but it must be responsible growth. If data centers want to build here, they should pay their own way, bring clean energy to support their operations, protect our water and environment, and demonstrate a real benefit to the communities in which they locate.

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?

I support Illinois’ TRUST Act because immigration enforcement is primarily a federal responsibility, while our local law enforcement officers should be focused on preventing crime and keeping our communities safe.

I reject the idea that protecting due process encourages criminal behavior. If someone commits a crime, they should be investigated, arrested, and prosecuted regardless of their immigration status. But being undocumented is not the same as committing a violent crime, and we should not treat entire communities as criminals.

Public safety also depends on trust. Victims and witnesses must feel safe reporting domestic violence, trafficking, abuse, and other crimes without fearing that asking police for help will expose their families to immigration enforcement.

I would preserve Illinois’ protections against local enforcement of federal civil immigration law while continuing to evaluate legitimate public-safety concerns. I support cooperation involving valid criminal warrants and serious criminal conduct, while maintaining due process and clear limits on using state and local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement.

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?

Yes, I see evidence that sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior have been a problem in Springfield, and I believe we have a responsibility to listen to and believe victims when they come forward. Too often, people stay silent because they fear retaliation, damage to their careers, or that they simply will not be believed. No one should have to tolerate harassment as the price of working in public service.

Illinois has strengthened its laws, reporting processes, training, and oversight, but those protections only work when people trust the system. I support independent and timely investigations, meaningful accountability when misconduct is substantiated, strong protections against retaliation, and continued harassment prevention training.

Ultimately, this is also about culture and leadership. We must create an environment where people feel safe speaking up, allegations are taken seriously, due process is respected, and everyone in the Capitol is held to the same high professional standards.

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?

Illinois has made important progress on ethics reform, but I do not believe we should ever be satisfied with a system simply because it meets a minimum standard. Public trust has to be earned, and elected officials should be held to an exceptionally high standard.

I support strengthening the independence and authority of the Legislative Inspector General, increasing transparency around substantiated ethics violations, and ensuring meaningful consequences when rules are broken. I also support strong financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest requirements, restrictions on the revolving door between public service and lobbying, and clear protections for whistleblowers.

Most importantly, ethics cannot just be about complying with the letter of the law. Public officials should proactively disclose conflicts, recuse themselves when appropriate, and remember that public office is a public trust. Illinoisans deserve to know that decisions in Springfield are being made in their interests, not for the personal or financial benefit of those making them.

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

I bring a unique combination of executive leadership, public service, and more than 15 years of experience working directly with children and families. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and nonprofit CEO, I have led a multimillion-dollar organization, managed complex budgets and teams, worked across state systems, and developed solutions in child welfare, mental health, housing, and human services. That experience taught me how to balance compassion with fiscal responsibility and turn good ideas into measurable results.

As an Arlington Heights Village Trustee, I understand the responsibility of governing: listening to residents, asking hard questions, weighing competing priorities, and working across differences to find solutions. I have also served on statewide and county advisory bodies focused on foster care and child safety.

I understand how policy is made, but I also understand how it impacts families at their kitchen tables. I would bring both perspectives to Springfield.