Maria Peterson: 2026 candidate for Illinois House District 52

Bio

Office sought: House District 52

Party: Democrat

City: North Barrington

Age: 64

Previous offices held: Currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals

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?

After knocking on thousands of doors across District 52, I hear the same concern again and again: families are doing everything right and still struggling to keep up. My top priorities are affordable health care, insurance accountability, and fully funding public education while delivering property tax relief.

No one should ration medication, skip a doctor's visit, or fear that getting sick could bury their family in debt. We must lower prescription drug costs, expand mental health care, and make coverage affordable for families and small businesses.

After the flooding in our communities, I worked with neighbors fighting claim denials as premiums kept rising. Insurers raising rates should justify it with real data, and families who pay year after year deserve a fair claims process when disaster strikes.

Every child deserves a quality education regardless of ZIP code. Illinois leans too heavily on local property taxes to fund schools, which squeezes homeowners, especially seniors and middle-class families. The state must increase its share of school funding and build a fairer tax system. This is about whether people can afford to build a life here.

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 do not support using public money to build a stadium for a private, multibillion-dollar franchise, and the General Assembly was right not to rush a deal through. Families in our district are struggling with the cost of housing, health care, child care and utilities. Asking taxpayers to subsidize a Bears stadium while we are still paying off the Soldier Field renovation is not something I would support.

I want the Bears to stay in Illinois, and I understand the economic activity a major development can bring. But that does not mean taxpayers should finance their stadium. If the Bears believe it's a sound investment, they should make it themselves.

The public also deserves far more transparency. Before any special tax treatment is considered, people should see the full terms and an independent economic impact analysis, not last-minute legislation negotiated behind closed doors.

I would support public investment in roads, transit and infrastructure that serve the broader community, not just the Bears. But public dollars belong in our schools, public safety, infrastructure and health care, not in the stadium itself.

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?

Violent crime has declined in Lake County, Chicago and statewide since the SAFE-T Act took effect on 9/18/2023.

The law did not end pretrial detention. Judges now decide whether to detain based on risk to the community or flight risk, not cash. Violent offenders can't buy release, and poor people aren't jailed for being poor. Pretrial detention protects the community; it doesn't punish the presumed innocent. Cash can't decide who is held.

Under cash bail, 70% of those charged with possessing child pornography posted bond. Now nearly all are detained.

Every major victims' rights group backed the law after abusers posted cash and hurt victims again. Now victims can be told their attacker will be held.

Police can still arrest, book and hold any offender overnight. Some nonviolent offenders are then released with judge-set conditions, a discretion police always had.

Possible changes: ease detention for probation violations, streamline conflict prosecutor appointments with remote hearings, and make concealing a body a detainable Class 1 felony.

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?

In 2024, 60% of voters throughout Illinois voted YES, that they wanted real estate tax relief on an advisory referendum. This was a loud and clear roar that Illinois residents want and need a change. Yet here we are, almost two years down the road with no relief whatsoever. Our real estate taxes are the second highest in the nation, and our income tax is regressive. Even the federal income tax system is a graduated system. It is time that we listen to our residents — and I hear them everyday at the doors. Senior citizens that want to stay in their dream home, but are not sure if they can because of their real estate taxes. Young families who cannot afford their first home because the cost of homeownership is too much, especially if they want to live in a community with excellent schools such as Barrington and Libertyville. This is one of the first issues I will work on after being sworn into the Legislature.

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?

Let’s first understand how we arrived at this point. In 2019, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin pushed

Governor Pritzker to sign a bi-partisan bill as a business building incentive, which included offering data centers a tax break.

We are now at a critical point where several hyperscale data centers are being built like the one in Grayslake which is adjacent to many residences within IL House District 52.

While the Power Act did not pass in the General Assembly, I am glad that there is serious discussion amongst environmental groups, labor, community activists, and utility watchdogs — with the hopes that an improved Power Act pass in the upcoming Veto session.

Just as the state provided guidelines for solar farms while still protecting local control, the state needs to provide guidelines for data centers as well, so that hyperscale or even mid-scale data centers are not built on land adjacent to homes, or on land that depends on aquifers or endangers Illinois’ endangered wetlands; but still ensures that jobs are created and local governments have best-practices guidelines.

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?

Illinois’ immigration policy should focus on public safety, trust, and keeping communities together. That is why I strongly support the TRUST Act. It is a common sense law that helps make our communities safer by building trust between local law enforcement and the people they serve.

The TRUST Act ensures that victims and witnesses can report crimes without fear, allowing police to build cooperation, solve more cases, and focus on local public safety rather than enforcing federal civil immigration law. At the same time, it preserves cooperation with federal authorities in criminal matters when there is a judicial warrant. This approach is practical, pro-police, and pro-community; and, it reflects how Illinois should approach immigration policy.

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. Springfield still has a serious sexual harassment problem, and it has gone on for years.

Too often, young women come to Springfield to build careers in government and politics, and when harassment happens, they face an awful choice: speak up and risk their careers, or stay quiet out of fear or retaliation.

The Harry Benton case showed why the system must change, and the recent controversy around the Legislative Inspector General showed that women need a process they can trust.

I want real reform: an independent ethics process, not the fox guarding the hen house, led by people with expertise in sexual harassment and workplace misconduct. We should also consider giving victims more time to report and strengthen protections against retaliation.

Women who come forward should be heard, taken seriously and protected. Their careers should never be the price of telling the truth.

As a labor attorney, I spent my career fighting for workers denied what they were owed. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work, and I have zero tolerance for harassment of any kind.

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?

No, I am not satisfied. Illinois has made progress, but ethics laws are only as strong as the independence and accountability behind them.

I worked for Pat Quinn when he was State Treasurer, and we have stayed in touch ever since. He taught me that public officials are public servants and that government belongs to the people. As governor, he created the independent Illinois Reform Commission to strengthen our ethics laws.

We need to continue that work. The Legislative Inspector General can now open investigations without Legislative Ethics Commission approval, an important reform. But the law generally allows only one year after alleged misconduct to begin an investigation. That is too short, especially in harassment or retaliation cases, where people may fear losing their jobs if they come forward.

I would extend that deadline, strengthen the Inspector General's independence and protections against retaliation, and make the process more transparent while protecting legitimate confidentiality.

Legislators should not police themselves. Public office is a public trust, and the rules must apply equally to everyone, regardless of party, position or connections.

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

I bring a lifetime of experience advocating for people, solving problems and serving my community.

As an attorney, I've learned how to listen, ask the right questions, bring people together and fight for those who need a voice.

My public service goes back decades. I was elected a parent representative on one of Chicago's first Local School Councils. In the State Treasurer's Office, I ran a program helping first-time homebuyers save for a down payment and get better mortgage rates. I also served on the Citizens Utility Board advocating for consumers.

I do my homework, and I believe people deserve facts, not misinformation. That's why I recently hosted a community forum on data centers with the Illinois Environmental Council, organized labor, community activists and a Lake County Board member. Residents heard every side and made up their own minds.

That's how I would legislate: understand the issue, hear from the people affected and find practical solutions. You don't get much done in Springfield by yelling across the aisle, but I will stand my ground on what matters. This office belongs to the people of District 52. I'm not running for a title. I'm running to do the work.