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2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Illinois House District 1

1 candidate, listed alphabetically.

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The job

One of one hundred and eighteen members of the Illinois House: “Each Legislative District shall be divided into two Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years thereafter one Representative shall be elected from each Representative District for a term of two years” (Article IV, Section 2(b)) [1].

Where this office sits

  1. Federal
  2. State — this office
  3. County
  4. Local

A state office: its powers come from this state's own constitution and statutes.

What the job involves

  • Sits in a General Assembly of fixed size: the legislative power is vested in a Senate and a House “elected by the electors from 59 Legislative Districts and 118 Representative Districts”, with each Legislative District divided into two Representative Districts (Article IV, Sections 1 and 2(b)) [1].
  • Is a continuous body: “The General Assembly shall convene each year on the second Wednesday of January. The General Assembly shall be a continuous body during the term for which members of the House of Representatives are elected” (Article IV, Section 5(a)) [1].
  • Meets in the open, with a high bar to close the door: sessions and committee meetings “shall be open to the public”, and may be closed only if “two-thirds of the members elected to that house determine that the public interest so requires” (Article IV, Section 5(c)) [1].
  • Overrides a plain veto at three-fifths of the members elected to each house, within fifteen calendar days of the objections being entered (Article IV, Section 9(c)) [1].
  • Restores a reduced appropriation on a simple majority, but a vetoed item only at three-fifths — so a governor who cuts rather than kills is harder to undo in substance and easier in form (Article IV, Section 9(d)) [1].
  • Decides what to do with a rewritten bill: the governor may return one “together with specific recommendations for change”, which each house may accept by a majority of the members elected (Article IV, Section 9(e)) [1].
  • Confirms, or lets through: an appointment the Senate does not act on “within 60 session days after the receipt thereof shall be deemed to have been consented to” (Article V, Section 9(a)) [1].
  • Can stop a governor reorganizing the executive branch, but only by acting: an Executive Order reassigning agency functions takes effect unless “either house disapproves … by the record vote of a majority of the members elected” within sixty calendar days (Article V, Section 11) [1].
  • May be called into special session by the governor, or “by joint proclamation of the presiding officers of both houses”, and may transact only the business the proclamation names plus impeachments and confirmations (Article IV, Section 5(b)) [1].

What the next officeholder will decide

The work waiting in the term being elected, from what the law puts in the job.

  • Two state budgets, in a body the constitution makes continuous across the term [1].
  • Every veto, item veto, reduction veto and amendatory veto the governor sends back, each with its own threshold [1].
  • Whether to let a governor's executive reorganization order stand [1].
  • In the Senate, every appointment — including the ones that go through if the chamber does nothing for sixty session days [1].
  • A two-year term from January 2027 [1].

Worth asking a candidate

Ours, not a questionnaire anyone answered. They come from what the job actually involves.

  • A governor's cut to an appropriation comes back on a simple majority; a killed item needs three-fifths. Does that balance make sense to you?
  • The amendatory veto lets a governor send a bill back rewritten. When should the General Assembly accept one?
  • An executive reorganization order becomes law unless your chamber stops it in sixty days. Has that power been used well?
  • Sessions can be closed on a two-thirds vote. Should that ever happen?
  • Which committee would you seek, and what does it decide?

Sources for the job

  1. Constitution of the State of Illinois — Article IV (the legislature) and Article V (the executive) (Illinois General Assembly, Legislative Reference Bureau, Public record)

Where this office sits in state government

State Representative is one of 7 elected offices in this part of the drawing. The one handoff it is part of are drawn below and written out underneath.

StateRepresentative State Senator Governor Secretaryof State AttorneyGeneral State Treasurer Comptroller Counties, cities, townsand school districts 1 They write the law and the budgetThey handle the money, the law and the electionsWho the law lands on
How Illinois's state government fits together. Not every office here is on this year's ballot, and each box leads to what that office does. The particulars — how a veto is overridden, how long a session runs — are on each office's own page, quoted from this state's constitution.

State Representative

A member of the lower chamber of the state legislature, which writes state law and the state budget.

One of one hundred and eighteen members of the Illinois House: “Each Legislative District shall be divided into two Representative Districts. In 1982 and every two years thereafter one Representative shall be elected from each Representative District for a term of two years” (Article IV, Section 2(b)).

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • To State Senator: A bill has to pass both chambers in the same form before it can reach the governor, so one chamber's vote only gets it halfway. In most states a bill that raises revenue has to start in the lower chamber.

State Senator

One of fifty-nine senators, one from each Legislative District (Article IV, Sections 1 and 2(a)).

One of fifty-nine senators, one from each Legislative District (Article IV, Sections 1 and 2(a)). Illinois staggers Senate terms rather than fixing them: after each decennial redistricting the districts are split into three groups elected for “four years, four years and two years”, “four years, two years and four years”, and “two years, four years and four years”, so every seat is contested at least twice a decade (Article IV, Section 2(a)).

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From State Representative: A bill has to pass both chambers in the same form before it can reach the governor, so one chamber's vote only gets it halfway. In most states a bill that raises revenue has to start in the lower chamber.
  • To Governor: What both chambers pass goes to the governor to sign or veto. The share of each chamber needed to override a veto is set by this state's own constitution and is on the legislature's office page.
  • To Counties, cities, towns and school districts: The legislature writes the property tax, local tax and budget rules that every county, city, town and school district in the state has to work inside. A local council choosing a rate is choosing among options set here.

Governor

The state's chief executive. Signs or vetoes what the legislature passes, and runs the state agencies.

Illinois's chief executive: “The Governor shall have the supreme executive power, and shall be responsible for the faithful execution of the laws” (Article V, Section 8). Four years, elected jointly with the lieutenant governor on a single vote (Article V, Sections 2 and 4). The office's real weight is in the veto, which comes in four kinds — plain, item, reduction and amendatory — each with its own override threshold (Article IV, Section 9).

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From State Senator: What both chambers pass goes to the governor to sign or veto. The share of each chamber needed to override a veto is set by this state's own constitution and is on the legislature's office page.
  • To Attorney General: The state's lawyer is elected separately in most states, so the governor cannot pick or remove the person who decides which laws to defend, which cases to bring, and which opinions to issue. Where the office is appointed instead, that page says so.
  • To Secretary of State: In most states this is the chief election official, elected on the same ballot it administers and not answerable to the governor. A few states put elections elsewhere; that office's page says which.
  • To State Treasurer: The governor proposes a budget and the legislature appropriates, but the money itself sits with a separately elected treasurer. What that office may do with it is set by this state's own law.
  • To Comptroller: The officer who examines the state's spending is elected in their own right, so an administration cannot remove the person auditing it. That independence is the point of electing the office rather than appointing it. Some states call it auditor, some comptroller; this state's box says which.
  • To Counties, cities, towns and school districts: State agencies under the governor license, inspect, fund and audit the counties, cities and school districts below. Much of what a local government can do in practice depends on a state agency's rules.

Secretary of State

One of Illinois's six elected executive officers, serving four years (Article V, Sections 1 and 2).

One of Illinois's six elected executive officers, serving four years (Article V, Sections 1 and 2). The constitution's job here is the record, and it says plainly who the record belongs to: the secretary “shall maintain the official records of the acts of the General Assembly and such official records of the Executive Branch as provided by law. Such official records shall be available for inspection by the public” (Article V, Section 16). Illinois also puts driver licensing and vehicle registration here by statute, which is why most residents meet this office rather than any other.

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From Governor: In most states this is the chief election official, elected on the same ballot it administers and not answerable to the governor. A few states put elections elsewhere; that office's page says which.

Attorney General

Illinois's elected chief legal officer.

Illinois's elected chief legal officer. The constitution's whole description is one sentence: “The Attorney General shall be the legal officer of the State, and shall have the duties and powers that may be prescribed by law” (Article V, Section 15). Everything this office does beyond being the state's lawyer — consumer protection, civil rights, charitable oversight, criminal appeals — is statute the General Assembly wrote and can rewrite.

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From Governor: The state's lawyer is elected separately in most states, so the governor cannot pick or remove the person who decides which laws to defend, which cases to bring, and which opinions to issue. Where the office is appointed instead, that page says so.

State Treasurer

Holds and invests the state's money.

Illinois's elected Treasurer, who holds the money the Comptroller orders paid: the office “shall be responsible for the safekeeping and investment of monies and securities deposited with him, and for their disbursement upon order of the Comptroller” (Article V, Section 18). Four years, elected separately from both the governor and the Comptroller (Article V, Sections 1 and 2).

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From Governor: The governor proposes a budget and the legislature appropriates, but the money itself sits with a separately elected treasurer. What that office may do with it is set by this state's own law.

Comptroller

Illinois's elected Comptroller — the officer who decides when the state actually pays.

Illinois's elected Comptroller — the officer who decides when the state actually pays. The constitution splits the money deliberately: “The Comptroller, in accordance with law, shall maintain the State's central fiscal accounts, and order payments into and out of the funds held by the Treasurer” (Article V, Section 17), while the Treasurer holds and invests that money and disburses it “upon order of the Comptroller” (Article V, Section 18). Two separately elected officers, neither able to move a dollar alone.

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From Governor: The officer who examines the state's spending is elected in their own right, so an administration cannot remove the person auditing it. That independence is the point of electing the office rather than appointing it. Some states call it auditor, some comptroller; this state's box says which.

Counties, cities, towns and school districts

Every local government in the state. None of them can tax or spend outside what the legislature allows.

Elected separately, each at its own level.

Who it works with, and what passes between them:

  • From State Senator: The legislature writes the property tax, local tax and budget rules that every county, city, town and school district in the state has to work inside. A local council choosing a rate is choosing among options set here.
  • From Governor: State agencies under the governor license, inspect, fund and audit the counties, cities and school districts below. Much of what a local government can do in practice depends on a state agency's rules.

Every office drawn here has its full description, quoted from Illinois's own constitution with sources, on its race pages.

Candidates

Aaron M. Ortiz

DemocraticIncumbent

In office now
State Representative, District 1

Aaron M. Ortiz is the sitting State Representative for District 1 in the Illinois General Assembly.

Sources for Ortiz

Sources

Candidate list and race details

What's included
U.S. Senate and House, statewide offices and every state legislative district on the ballot.
Everything else
Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: ova.elections.il.gov.
Candidate lists
As of Wednesday, October 14, 2026.

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.