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What Demi Stands For
Demi Palecek is running for State Representative to fight for the values that matter most to our communities—from healthcare and housing to justice and education. She brings lived experience, legislative insight, and a record of showing up. Explore her key priorities below.
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PROTECTING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
Demi believes every person, regardless of gender identity, deserves full autonomy over their body, their healthcare, and their future. Reproductive freedom remains under constant threat, and we need leaders who will defend this fundamental right without compromise. I am committed to protecting and expanding access to the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare, including contraception, abortion care, fertility treatments, gender-affirming care, maternal health services, prenatal care, postpartum support, STI testing and treatment, and comprehensive sex education. Every person should have the right to make decisions about their own body, healthcare, and future in consultation with their healthcare providers, not politicians. What I'll Continue to Fight For in the State House: Expand Abortion Access: Dramatically increase state funding for abortion funds and practical support infrastructure (travel, lodging, childcare, lost wages). Eliminate remaining barriers, including waiting periods and mandatory counseling. Expand telehealth abortion and protect medication abortion availability. Protect Providers and Patients: Shield Illinois providers from out-of-state prosecution and legal attacks. Protect patient privacy from anti-abortion surveillance: fund clinic security and legal defense funds. Prosecute harassment and violence against providers and patients. Address Maternal Health Crisis: Fund community-based midwifery and doula programs, require implicit bias training, extend postpartum Medicaid to 12+ months, and invest in maternal health centers in underserved communities. Support home birth and birthing center options. Ensure Healthcare Access for All: Expand Medicaid coverage to include comprehensive reproductive healthcare regardless of immigration status, and fund community health centers in underserved areas. Ensure language access and culturally competent care. Protect Gender-Affirming Care: Defend access to hormone therapy, surgeries, and mental health support. We must shield providers from out-of-state attacks. Ensure insurance coverage without discrimination. Support Fertility and Family Building: Mandate insurance coverage for IVF and fertility treatments. Protect reproductive technology from right-wing attacks. Support LGBTQ+ families' access to fertility services and adoption. Comprehensive Sex Education: Require medically accurate, inclusive sex education in all Illinois schools, including consent, contraception, STI prevention, and healthy relationships. Oppose abstinence-only programs. Strengthen Illinois as a Sanctuary: Pass legislation welcoming abortion seekers from restrictive states. Coordinate regional abortion access networks. Launch public awareness campaigns. Defend Illinois as a firewall against federal attacks. Combat Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Regulate fake clinics through truth-in-advertising and informed consent requirements. Require disclosure that they don't provide abortions. Prohibit misleading tactics. Why This Matters: When I needed an abortion, the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) helped make that possible; the resources and care saved my life. I organize fundraisers for CAF, house people traveling for care, and volunteer as a clinic safeguard. Illinois serves 89,000+ people annually, including 35,000+ out-of-state patients. I will be abortion access's fiercest champion in Springfield, never compromising, always centering on those who need care.
ENSURING ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
Our District's Healthcare Crisis: District 13 has lost three major healthcare facilities in six years. On a busy night, an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital can take 25 minutes, long enough for people to die waiting for care they would have received with local hospitals. People also face bankruptcy from ambulance costs or avoid calling 911 because they can't afford it. This is what happens when healthcare is treated as a profit center. What I'll Fight For: Universal Healthcare: I support Medicare for All at the federal level and will advocate loudly for it. At the state level, I'll expand healthcare access regardless of immigration status, lower prescription drug costs through state-level reforms, and build toward state-level universal coverage models. Going to the doctor shouldn't bankrupt anyone; healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Restore Healthcare Infrastructure: Invest state funds in reopening closed hospitals or establishing community health centers providing comprehensive care, including primary care, emergency services, mental health care, and reproductive healthcare, in working-class communities. Protect Pre-Existing Conditions: Strengthen protections for people with pre-existing conditions and eliminate caps on health insurance contributions, ensuring residents with expensive or long-term conditions receive lifelong care, mandate insurance coverage for oral chemotherapy and other essential treatments. Mental Health Crisis Response: Expand Community Mental Health funding, hire more school counselors so children have access to lifesaving care, create community-based crisis response teams staffed by mental health professionals instead of police, invest in addiction treatment and harm reduction services, and reduce stigma surrounding mental health and substance abuse. Comprehensive Coverage: Improve children's dental health through school-based programs. Expand access to vision care, hearing services, and preventive care. Eliminate pre-authorization requirements that delay necessary care and enrich insurance companies. Economic Justice: Recognize that healthcare access is economic justice, and medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy. Support paid sick leave, protect workers' right to take time off for medical care, and address how healthcare costs disproportionately harm Black and Brown communities. Immigrant Healthcare Access: Expand Medicaid and state healthcare programs to cover undocumented community members. Fund community health centers serving immigrant populations with language access and culturally competent care. Prescription Drug Costs: Lower prescription drug costs through bulk purchasing, price transparency requirements, and using state purchasing power to negotiate lower prices. Protect access to life-saving medications, including insulin, EpiPens, and HIV prevention drugs like PrEP. Why This Matters: Our district's healthcare crisis, the loss of hospitals, rising costs, and people choosing between bankruptcy and care prove that the market has failed; we need state investment, universal coverage, and recognition that healthy communities require accessible, affordable, comprehensive healthcare for everyone. I'll fight to make that real.
Strengthening Public Education
Our District's Education Crisis: Every child deserves access to a well-funded public education, regardless of their zip code, income, race, or immigration status. Education is the transformative power that can break cycles of poverty but only when it's adequately funded and accessible to EVERYONE. I joined the military at 19 because it was my only pathway to attend college. No child should face that choice. Our education system fails working-class students, particularly Black and Brown children, because we fund schools through property taxes, perpetuating inequality and underfunding communities that need resources most. What I'll Fight For: Fund Evidence-Based Funding: Fight for $550 million+ annually in Evidence-Based Funding, prioritizing under-resourced districts serving Black and Brown students. End the property tax-based funding model, creating massive inequities. Implement progressive state revenue, wealth taxes, and corporate taxes, and close loopholes to fund education equitably statewide. Universal Free Meals: Provide complimentary breakfast and lunch for every public school student, eliminating stigma and ensuring no child learns hungry. Change policy so children can take leftover food home, addressing food insecurity that undermines learning and family stability. Safe, Reliable Transportation: Provide adequate transportation funding to ensure students get to school safely and on time. Transportation barriers disproportionately affect low-income families and students in underserved areas. Universal Pre-K: Implement universal pre-K with quality facilities, fair teacher pay, and culturally responsive curriculum. Early childhood education addresses opportunity gaps before they widen. Prioritize access and investment in Black and Brown communities. Bilingual Education: Expand high-quality bilingual and dual-language education programs that serve our diverse multilingual communities. Support for English learners must build on their linguistic assets rather than rely on deficit-based approaches. As the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, I understand the value of bilingualism. Comprehensive Support Services: Fund wraparound services in every school, including mental health counselors, social workers, nurses, and restorative justice coordinators, not police officers. Students experiencing poverty, trauma, housing insecurity, or family instability need comprehensive support to succeed academically. Invest in Literacy: Fund Illinois' Comprehensive Literacy Plan with at least $70 million supporting evidence-based reading instruction. One-third of fourth-graders can't read at a basic level; this is a crisis requiring immediate investment. Career and Technical Education: Invest at least $5.9 million in CTE programs that provide pathways to careers and industry credentials, especially for students who don't see a four-year college as their path. Support narrow mandate exemptions enabling students to complete high-quality CTE programs. Smaller Class Sizes: Reduce class sizes to allow teachers to provide individualized attention. Adequate staffing improves learning outcomes and teacher retention. Oppose Privatization: Oppose charter school expansion and all privatization efforts draining resources from public schools, lacking accountability, and undermining unions. Public money belongs in public schools, period. Stop School Closures: Fight against school closures disproportionately affecting Black and Brown communities. School closures destabilize neighborhoods, increase student trauma, and reflect racist disinvestment. Invest in struggling schools, don't close them. Address Funding Disparities: Confront how funding disparities have historically impacted underserved communities through racist policies and continued disinvestment, and direct resources to schools serving students furthest from privilege and justice. Culturally Responsive Education: Support a curriculum that reflects students' identities, histories, and experiences. Defend against book bans and curriculum censorship targeting Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ stories. Train educators in anti-racist pedagogy and culturally sustaining practices. End School-to-Prison Pipeline: Remove police from schools and redirect funding to counselors and intervention programs. End punitive discipline, disproportionately harming Black students. Support restorative justice practices addressing harm without criminalization. Protect Immigrant Students: Ensure schools never collaborate with ICE or share student information with immigration enforcement. Support in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students. Protect DACA students and mixed-status families. Special Education Funding: Adequately fund special education services, ensuring students with disabilities receive the support they need and deserve. Too many schools lack the resources to serve students with IEPs effectively. School Infrastructure: Invest in school facility improvements, including modern HVAC systems, accessibility upgrades, technology infrastructure, libraries, and safe buildings. Many schools in Black and Brown communities have crumbling infrastructure, which is environmental racism and educational injustice. After-School and Summer Programs: Fund after-school activities, enrichment programs, and summer learning to prevent learning loss and provide safe, engaging spaces for youth. Debt-Free College: Make Illinois public universities and community colleges tuition-free or debt-free, starting with community colleges. Expand student loan forgiveness programs. Increase state funding for higher education to reduce reliance on tuition. Why This Matters: Education equity requires addressing systemic racism in funding, curriculum, discipline, and support systems. Fully funded public schools with comprehensive services, culturally responsive curriculum, and restorative practices create conditions where every child can thrive. Public education is the foundation of democracy, economic mobility, and justice; we must invest in it accordingly. Every child deserves an excellent education regardless of zip code. That's what I'll fight for.
Housing Affordability & Tenant Protections
Our District's Housing Crisis: Rising rents and displacement are destroying working-class communities across District 13. Long-time residents, immigrants, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families are being forced out by luxury development and corporate landlords extracting as much wealth as possible. Homelessness is exploding. Our diverse communities, comprising longtime residents and new neighbors, deserve housing for everyone who wants to live here. What I'll Fight For: Rent Stability: Lift the statewide rent-control ban so municipalities can implement strong rent-stabilization measures that protect tenants from exploitative rent increases. Rent stability is essential for preventing displacement and keeping working families in their homes. Tenant Protections: Require just-cause eviction, preventing landlords from evicting tenants without legitimate reasons. Ban source-of-income discrimination so landlords can't refuse vouchers. Guarantee universal lease renewal rights. Strengthen enforcement against landlord harassment and illegal evictions. Massive Public Housing Investment: Build public and social housing modeled on Vienna's system, where 60% of residents live in beautiful, affordable, publicly-owned homes. Create permanently affordable housing removed from speculative markets. Protect and invest in existing public housing instead of demolishing it. Ban Corporate Landlords: Ban or heavily tax corporate landlord ownership of single-family homes. Private equity firms buying up housing and extracting community wealth must be stopped. Implement vacancy taxes on empty properties to penalize speculation. Community Land Trusts: Support community land trusts that keep housing affordable in perpetuity and give communities democratic control over development. Affordable Housing Production: Dramatically increase funding for affordable housing development. Require affordability (at or below 30% AMI) in all subsidized developments. Support mixed-use zoning, transit-oriented affordable housing, and reduced parking minimums. Streamline affordable housing approvals while maintaining community input. Anti-Displacement Protections: Prevent gentrification from forcing out long-time residents through tenant protections, down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, property tax relief for seniors and low-income homeowners, and community benefit agreements requiring developers to include true affordability. Housing First for Homelessness: Address homelessness through Housing First approaches, with transitional housing wraparound services including mental health care, addiction treatment, job training, and access to healthcare. I organize monthly mutual aid for unhoused neighbors because I've seen this crisis firsthand. Protect Homeowners: Defend homeowners from predatory lending and foreclosure. Support programs helping people stay in their homes during financial hardship. Why This Matters: Housing stability is the foundation for everything: health, education, economic security, and community safety. Without stable housing, nothing else works. I reject the lie that markets will solve this crisis; markets created it. We need state power to decommodify housing, protect tenants, invest in public housing, and recognize that everyone deserves a home regardless of income. That's what I'll fight for.
As an anti-war veteran, I’ve seen what violence does to families and communities. Our nation and all people should have a moral duty to stand for peace, accountability, and human dignity everywhere.
In Gaza, I support an immediate ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid, and comprehensive third-party investigations into all violations of international law. All people deserve safety, freedom, and justice. As a veteran dedicated to peace, I believe we must utilize our influence as a nation and as a group to strive for a lasting peace founded on equality and human rights.
I’m also deeply concerned about the ongoing crises in Sudan and other conflict zones, where civilians face famine, displacement, and violence. We must expand aid and support diplomatic solutions that end bloodshed and hold these violent actors accountable for their actions.
Real security comes from investing in people and providing them with the resources to stand with pride.
Gaza & Global Genocide
Promoting Environmental Sustainability & Transit
Demi believes environmental justice starts at the local level, and that our communities deserve clean air, safe water, reliable transit, and protection from climate catastrophe. Our District's Environmental Challenges: Climate change is already here, with extreme heat, flooding, pollution disproportionately harming Black and Brown neighborhoods, and inadequate green space in working-class communities. District 13 faces a transit crisis with threatened 40% service cuts, environmental racism concentrating pollution in poor neighborhoods, lakefront access inequities, and aging infrastructure failing to protect us from climate impacts. We can't leave this to future generations; we need action now. What I'll Fight For: Green New Deal Implementation: Support massive state investment in renewable energy through public ownership models; green infrastructure that creates union jobs; weatherization, starting with public and low-income housing; expanded public transit and electrified bus fleets; green stormwater infrastructure to address flooding; and urban tree canopy expansion to reduce heat islands. Every project must include Project Labor Agreements guaranteeing union wages. Climate Superfund/Polluter Pays: Champion Climate Superfund legislation holding fossil fuel companies financially accountable for climate damages. Direct funds to frontline communities for adaptation, resilience, and just transition. Fossil fuel companies knew about climate change for decades and lied; they must pay to fix the crisis they created. End State Provided Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Eliminate all state tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuel companies. Redirect those resources to renewable infrastructure and environmental justice communities. Ban new fossil-fuel infrastructure, including pipelines, power plants, and extraction projects. Environmental Justice Mandates: Require that all climate investments prioritize communities with the highest pollution burdens, predominantly Black, Brown, and low-income neighborhoods suffering ecological racism. Climate policy must center on frontline communities, not on wealthy areas that are already protected. Public Transit Investment: Fight for massive investments in the CTA, Metra, and Pace to address the budget crisis threatening 40% service cuts. Increase frequency, improve reliability, expand accessibility, and reduce or eliminate fares for low-income residents. Support dedicated bus lanes, signal priority, and infrastructure making transit competitive with cars. Protect Red and Purple Line modernization projects from attacks by the Trump administration on federal funding. Green Space Equity: Ensure every neighborhood has quality green space, parks, and lakefront access within walking distance, not just wealthy areas. Support community gardens providing food security and community connection. Expand park funding to prioritize underserved neighborhoods. Protect our lakefront and parks as treasured community assets. Just Transition Creating Union Jobs: Transition to a green economy while creating high-paying union jobs through renewable energy installation, building retrofits, green infrastructure construction, public transit expansion, and environmental remediation. Guarantee jobs, retraining, and income support for fossil fuel workers. Climate action must build working-class economic power. Clean Air and Water: Address air and water pollution disproportionately harming Black and Brown communities. Strengthen pollution regulations and enforcement. Hold polluters accountable for health impacts. Invest in pollution remediation in environmental justice communities. Climate Resilience and Adaptation: Fund infrastructure protecting vulnerable neighborhoods from flooding, extreme heat, and other climate impacts. Ensure adaptation investments prioritize communities facing the worst climate impacts, rather than safeguarding wealthy areas. Support cooling centers, heating assistance, and emergency response during extreme weather. Sustainable Development: Require climate impact assessments for all major development projects. Prioritize transit-oriented development with affordable housing near public transit to reduce car dependency. Support green building standards and energy efficiency requirements. Protected Bike Infrastructure: Build separated bike lanes on every major street to make cycling safe for everyone, not just fearless riders. I'm afraid to bike now because streets aren't secure; that must change. Complete streets must serve pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and people with disabilities, not just cars. Community Empowerment: Ensure local communities, especially frontline communities, have decision-making authority over climate policies and development that affect their neighborhoods. Support community-based climate solutions and local organizing—fund community organizations doing environmental justice work. Green Jobs Training: Expand apprenticeship programs and workforce development in renewable energy, green construction, environmental remediation, and sustainable industries. Partner with unions to ensure training leads to quality careers. Environmental Education: Support ecological education in schools, teaching climate science, environmental justice, and sustainability. Prepare the next generation for a green economy while building climate consciousness. Why This Matters: Climate crisis and environmental injustice are life-or-death issues right now. Black and Brown communities face the worst pollution, flooding, heat, and climate impacts while having the fewest resources to adapt. Public transit connects working people to jobs and opportunities while reducing emissions. Clean water and air are human rights. We need immediate, transformative action to create union jobs and center environmental justice, not incremental half-measures that serve wealthy suburbs while poor neighborhoods suffer. I'll fight for climate justice that builds working-class power and protects frontline communities.
Demi is committed to workers' rights, economic fairness, and future-ready jobs for every working-class person in Illinois. I've been working since I was 14, washing dishes to help my family make ends meet. My father was a union member at Union Pacific Railroad until he became a supervisor and lost all union protections. When he was diagnosed with cancer, our already unstable life took a darker turn. That experience taught me unions aren't optional; they're essential for worker safety, family security, and dignity. I understand the squeeze families face when wages stagnate while costs rise. I joined the military to escape poverty because it was my only option. No one should have to make that choice. What I'll Fight For: Liveable Wage: Fight for a liveable wage tied to inflation because working people deserve living wages that actually cover rent, food, healthcare, and dignity. The current minimum wage doesn't meet basic needs; that's unacceptable. Protect and Strengthen Unions: Stand firmly with organized labor and oppose all anti-union legislation, including Right-to-Work laws undermining collective bargaining. Support card check to make it easier for workers to organize. Strengthen collective bargaining rights across all sectors. Stand publicly with workers during strikes and organizing drives. Project Labor Agreements: Require Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on all state-funded projects, guaranteeing union jobs with prevailing wages, benefits, and strong safety protections. PLAs ensure public dollars create quality careers, not exploitative low-wage work. Prevailing Wage Protections: Protect prevailing wage standards for publicly funded projects by enforcing and penalizing wage theft and contractor violations. Oppose any attempts to weaken or eliminate prevailing wage requirements. Ban Wage Theft: Make wage theft a serious crime with criminal penalties for employers who steal from workers. Create robust enforcement mechanisms ensuring workers can recover stolen wages, support workers' right to sue for triple damages. Workers' Rights Protections: Guarantee paid sick leave, paid family leave, and fair scheduling for all workers. Protect gig and contract workers from misclassification schemes that deny benefits and protections. Ensure workplace safety standards are enforced, and support workers' right to refuse unsafe work. Sectoral Bargaining: Support sectoral bargaining, raising standards across entire industries instead of forcing workers to organize workplace-by-workplace. This approach lifts wages and conditions for all workers in a sector. End Corporate Welfare: Eliminate tax breaks and subsidies for corporations that don't deliver promised jobs or community benefits. Implement clawback provisions requiring corporations to repay subsidies when they fail to meet commitments. Redirect corporate welfare to worker training, small business support, and community investment. Support Small Businesses: Prioritize support for small businesses, particularly those owned by minorities, immigrants, women, and LGBTQ+ people, who are the backbone of our local economy. Provide access to capital, technical assistance, and procurement opportunities. Protect small businesses from corporate chain dominance and predatory practices. Green Jobs and Just Transition: Create millions of union jobs through Green New Deal infrastructure, renewable energy, building weatherization, public transit expansion, and green infrastructure. Ensure a just transition for fossil fuel workers with guaranteed jobs, retraining, income support, and pension protections. All green jobs must pay prevailing wages with union protections. Expand Apprenticeships: Dramatically expand statewide apprenticeship opportunities and pre-apprenticeship programs in emerging industries like clean energy, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and technology. Partner with unions to create registered apprenticeship programs guaranteeing quality training and career pathways. Support youth apprenticeships connecting high school students to careers. Economic Justice for All: Recognize that economic justice requires addressing systemic racism, sexism, and discrimination in hiring, wages, and advancement. Close wage gaps affecting women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ workers. Ensure equal pay for equal work with vigorous enforcement. Worker Cooperatives: Support worker cooperatives and community ownership models, keeping wealth within communities rather than extracting it for shareholders. Provide technical assistance and capital access to workers who want to form cooperatives. Protect Immigrant Workers: Ensure labor protections apply regardless of immigration status. Prohibit retaliation against immigrant workers reporting violations. Support immigrant entrepreneurship, recognizing that immigrants start businesses at higher rates than native-born Americans. State Procurement Policies: Favor businesses with strong labor practices, union workforces, and records of treating workers well in state procurement. Use state purchasing power to reward good employers and punish bad actors. Combat Employer Retaliation: Strengthen protections against employer retaliation for union organizing, reporting violations, or exercising workers' rights. Make retaliation against employers expensive through penalties and damages. Public Sector Workers: Defend public sector unions and collective bargaining rights. Ensure state employees, teachers, firefighters, and all public workers have strong protections, fair wages, and safe working conditions. Why This Matters: Workers built everything, infrastructure, wealth, communities, and prosperity. Workers deserve everything: living wages, safe conditions, union protections, dignity at work. Economic justice means shifting power from corporations to workers, from bosses to unions, from oligarchs to working families. I reject corporate money, so I'm never beholden to anti-labor interests. I stand with workers always, because I am a worker, I come from workers, and I will fight for workers without compromise.
Immigrant & Refugee Rights
Illinois should be a welcoming, supportive home for all, no matter where you're from or what language you speak. I am the daughter of a Mexican immigrant who was undocumented most of my life. I understand the fear, the constant looking over your shoulder, the terror of family separation. Right now, I'm one of only two National Guard members in the entire nation publicly speaking out against Trump's use of military forces for ICE enforcement, and I'm under investigation, risking my 14-year career for it. I organize community defense in Broadview, coordinate protests at ICE detention centers, host whistle-blowing events to keep neighbors safe, and provide resources to families hiding from raids. This isn't theoretical, it's my life, my family, my community. The domino effect of immigration enforcement destroys families, terrorizes communities, and undermines our entire country. What I'll Fight For: Abolish ICE: ICE is fundamentally illegitimate and should be abolished entirely. The agency terrorizes communities, separates families, operates detention centers that are human rights violations, and serves corporate interests over human dignity. I will advocate for the complete abolition of the current system and its replacement with humane immigration processes. True Sanctuary Protections: Make Illinois an actual sanctuary state with zero cooperation between state/local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. Ban all data sharing, resource provision, and collaboration with ICE. Prohibit ICE access to state databases and facilities. State-Funded Legal Defense: Create robust state-funded deportation defense programs to ensure that everyone facing deportation has legal representation, regardless of their ability to pay. Expand Know Your Rights programs and rapid response networks. Accountability for ICE Agents: Hold ICE agents accountable for civil rights violations, family separations, detention abuses, and human rights violations. Support investigations and prosecution of agents who break laws or violate constitutional rights. Reunify Separated Families: Provide state resources and advocacy supporting family reunification efforts. Work with federal legislators and international organizations to bring families torn apart by immigration enforcement back together. Protect Families: Implement policies protecting mixed-status families from discrimination. Ensure children aren't separated from parents. Prohibit landlords, employers, and service providers from discriminating based on immigration status. Create reporting mechanisms for immigration-related threats. Real Pathways to Citizenship: Advocate for clear, accessible pathways to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. Fight for permanent DACA protections and restoration of DAPA. Recognize climate refugees and create pathways for climate migration. Protect DACA and Dreamers: Defend DACA recipients from deportation and expand protections. Support in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students. Protect young people who grew up here and deserve to stay. Expand Services Regardless of Status: Ensure access to healthcare, education, housing, and social services regardless of immigration status. Fund community health centers, schools, and support programs serving immigrant communities. Eliminate barriers requiring proof of citizenship for essential services. Language Access: Require language access across all state services, ensuring multilingual communities can access education, healthcare, legal services, and government programs: fund interpretation and translation services. Eliminate Barriers: Remove transcript evaluation fees and other barriers preventing refugees and immigrants from accessing education and professional licensing. Streamline credential recognition to enable people to work in their professions. Culturally Competent Services: Invest in culturally competent services, understanding immigrant communities' specific needs, trauma, and experiences, and train service providers in immigrant rights and cultural sensitivity. Immigrant Services Funding: Dramatically increase the Immigrant Services Line Item in the state budget funding legal services, community organizations, mutual aid networks, and support programs. Defend Against Federal Attacks: Coordinate with other states resisting Trump's mass deportation agenda. Sue the federal government for unconstitutional immigration enforcement. Use every state power available to protect immigrant communities. Community Defense Infrastructure: Fund community-based rapid-response networks that coordinate when ICE is in communities. Support mutual aid organizations providing resources to immigrant families. Build coalitions protecting our neighbors. Why This Matters: Many immigrants in our communities are climate refugees fleeing disasters caused by U.S. emissions, then criminalized for surviving. Others are escaping violence, poverty, and persecution. Everyone deserves dignity, safety, and opportunity to build lives here. Immigration enforcement is white supremacy, it's family destruction, and it's economic exploitation. I will fight it with everything I have, because this is my family, my community, my culture, and the future we're building together. Immigrant communities built Illinois and this country, and deserve safety, resources, and pathways to full participation in society.
Supporting Seniors
Our District's Senior Challenges: Seniors in District 13 face rising property taxes forcing them out of homes they've lived in for decades, inadequate public transit and paratransit services limiting mobility and independence, loss of healthcare infrastructure (three hospitals in six years) making medical care inaccessible, isolation and loneliness as communities change around them, fixed incomes that don't keep up with rising costs of living, and inadequate support for aging in place. Our seniors built these neighborhoods; they deserve to stay in them. What I'll Fight For: Aging in Place Support: Expand funding for home and community-based services, including personal care attendants, meal delivery, home health services, and transportation assistance. Fund affordable housing modifications and accessibility improvements through grants or low-interest loans for ramps, grab bars, bathroom modifications, and safety upgrades. Property Tax Relief: Implement property tax freezes and relief programs for seniors on fixed incomes to prevent them from being forced out of their homes by rising taxes. Expand the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral Program and Senior Homestead Exemption. Healthcare Access: Restore healthcare infrastructure in our district so seniors don't face 25-minute ambulance rides to the nearest hospitals. Expand Medicaid home care services and eliminate waiting lists. Fund community health centers that provide senior-focused care and support telehealth options for seniors with mobility challenges. Public Transit and Mobility: Dramatically improve CTA service reliability and accessibility. Expand paratransit services with same-day scheduling and enhanced coverage. Ensure bus and train stations have working elevators, benches, and weather protection. Create affordable transportation options for medical appointments and social activities. Combat Social Isolation: Fund senior centers, community programs, and intergenerational activities to create connection and purpose. Support volunteer visitor programs connecting isolated seniors with community members. Invest in access to technology and training to help seniors stay connected to family and services. Caregiver Support: Provide respite care, training, and financial assistance for family caregivers supporting aging relatives. Recognize that family caregivers save the state millions while sacrificing their own economic security and well-being. Economic Security: Protect Social Security and pension benefits. Expand programs helping seniors with prescription drug costs, utility bills, and other essential expenses. Support senior employment programs for those who want or need to continue working. Long-Term Care Quality: Ensure nursing homes and assisted living facilities meet high standards of care with adequate staffing, oversight, and accountability. Protect seniors from abuse, neglect, and exploitation in institutional settings. Elder Justice: Strengthen protections against elder abuse, financial exploitation, and scams targeting seniors. Fund Adult Protective Services and legal aid for seniors facing abuse or discrimination. Prosecute those who exploit or harm vulnerable seniors. Accessible Services: Ensure all state services are accessible to seniors, including large-print materials, language access for immigrant seniors, and assistance navigating complex systems. Create one-stop senior resource centers to simplify access to programs and benefits. Mental Health Support: Expand mental health services addressing depression, anxiety, grief, and dementia. Reduce stigma around senior mental health needs. Provide trauma-informed care for seniors who've experienced violence or loss. Nutrition Security: Expand meal programs, including home-delivered meals and congregate dining at senior centers, and partner with community organizations to address food insecurity among seniors. Ensure meal programs accommodate dietary restrictions and cultural preferences. Housing Options: Invest in senior housing that's affordable, accessible, and connected to services. Support naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) providing services in buildings where many seniors live. Prevent seniors from being displaced by gentrification. Immigrant Seniors: Ensure immigrant seniors, many of whom built our communities, have access to services regardless of immigration status. Provide culturally competent, multilingual services. Protect immigrant seniors from ICE enforcement and discrimination. Climate Resilience: Protect seniors from extreme heat and cold by providing cooling centers, heating assistance, and wellness checks during extreme weather. Ensure seniors have resources to adapt to climate impacts. Why This Matters: Our seniors have devoted their lives to building our communities; they deserve security, dignity, and support as they age. Forcing seniors out of homes through property taxes, denying them healthcare access, or leaving them isolated is a moral failure. I'll fight to ensure every senior can age with dignity in the community they helped build.
Public Safety with a Justice Lens
Everyone deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood but safety must come with accountability, equity, and care. Our Community's Safety Crisis: District 13 faces real safety challenges, gun violence, domestic violence, mental health crises, and community trauma. But decades of mass incarceration and over-policing haven't made us safer; they've harmed Black and Brown communities while failing to address root causes of violence. Real safety comes from meeting people's needs: housing stability, economic opportunity, mental health care, and community investment, not more police and prisons. What I'll Fight For: Community-Based Violence Prevention: Massively invest in proven community violence prevention programs like Cure Violence, treating gun violence as a public health crisis, not just a policing problem. Fund street outreach workers, conflict mediation, trauma-informed care, wraparound support services addressing root causes, and programs employing people with lived experience, interrupting violence cycles. These programs work; they reduce shootings and save lives. Gun Violence Prevention (RIFL Act): I'm actively working on the RIFL Act (Responsibility in Firearms Liability Act), holding gun manufacturers accountable for gun violence. Settlement funds go directly back into communities for violence prevention programs, victim services, mental health care, youth opportunities, education improvements, decreased class sizes, and after-school activities. Gun manufacturers profit while communities bear violence costs; they must pay to repair harm they've caused. Mental Health Crisis Response: Replace police responses to mental health emergencies with community-based crisis response teams staffed by mental health professionals, peer support specialists, and social workers trained in de-escalation and trauma-informed care. Police escalate mental health crises and harm people in crisis; we need healthcare responses, not law enforcement. Massively expand mental health services, addiction treatment, crisis intervention, and trauma care accessible to everyone regardless of insurance or immigration status. Address Root Causes: Violence doesn't happen in a vacuum; it's connected to poverty, lack of opportunity, housing instability, inadequate mental health services, and systemic racism. Invest in: youth employment programs creating pathways to careers; stable, affordable housing preventing displacement; quality education with counselors and support services; economic opportunity through living wages and job training; healthcare access, including mental health and addiction treatment; and green spaces, parks, and community infrastructure. Alternatives to Incarceration: Support restorative justice practices that address harm without criminalization; diversion programs that connect people to services instead of jail; community service and restitution instead of incarceration; drug and mental health courts with a treatment focus; and electronic monitoring and community supervision alternatives. Incarceration doesn't rehabilitate, it traumatizes and destabilizes. Evidence-based alternatives work better and cost less. End Mass Incarceration: Fight for decarceration through sentence reductions and clemency, ending cash bail, creating wealth-based detention, automatic expungement for marijuana and non-violent offenses, banning private prisons profiting from incarceration, and comprehensive re-entry support, including housing assistance, employment programs, healthcare access, and family reunification support. People deserve second chances and pathways back to the community. Police Accountability: Require strong civilian oversight with real authority, including subpoena power, disciplinary authority, and budget control. End qualified immunity protecting police from accountability for constitutional violations. Ban no-knock warrants, chokeholds, and militarized equipment. Require transparent data on police violence, use of force, and complaints. Independent investigations of police shootings and deaths in custody. Prosecutors who will actually hold police accountable. End School-to-Prison Pipeline: Remove police from schools and redirect funding to counselors, social workers, and restorative justice coordinators. End punitive discipline, disproportionately harming Black students. Support restorative practices addressing conflict and harm without criminalization. Invest in wraparound support services meeting students' needs. Domestic Violence Response: Fund survivor-centered domestic violence services, including emergency shelters, legal advocacy, economic support, and long-term housing. Strengthen enforcement of protection orders. Support community-based accountability programs for people who've caused harm. Connect domestic violence prevention to gun violence prevention, remove guns from domestic abusers, and enforce existing restrictions. Support Survivors and Families: Invest in victim services, including trauma counseling, financial assistance for medical bills and lost wages, legal advocacy, and support navigating systems. Fund community healing programs addressing collective trauma. Center voices of people most impacted by violence in policy decisions. Racial Justice in Safety Policy: Recognize that over-policing, mass incarceration, and punitive approaches disproportionately harm Black and Brown communities. Safety policy must address systemic racism in policing, courts, and incarceration. Community safety requires racial justice, not continuing systems designed to control and criminalize people of color. Protect Immigrant Communities: Ensure safety responses don't collaborate with ICE or put immigrant communities at risk. People shouldn't fear calling for help because of their immigration status. Zero cooperation between public safety systems and immigration enforcement. Build trust so all community members can access safety resources. Support, Not Criminalize, People Experiencing Homelessness: Address homelessness through housing and services, not criminalization and sweeps. Fund Housing First approaches, mental health and addiction treatment, and comprehensive support. Criminalization doesn't solve homelessness; it makes survival harder and wastes resources. Youth Investment: Massively invest in youth programs, including after-school activities, summer jobs, mentorship programs, arts and culture opportunities, sports and recreation, and leadership development. Young people need opportunity, not criminalization. Evidence shows youth employment programs reduce violence more effectively than policing. Data and Accountability: Track outcomes, are we actually reducing violence? Who benefits from safety investments? Where are the gaps? Use data to drive continuous improvement. Work directly with community organizations, violence prevention programs, and people most impacted to understand what works and respond accordingly. Why This Matters: Safety isn't more police; it's stable housing, good jobs, quality education, accessible healthcare, and communities free from state violence. Decades of "tough on crime" policies have created our mass incarceration crisis, devastated Black and Brown families, and have not made us safer. We need a transformative approach centered on community investment, accountability, healing, and the addressing of root causes. I'm working on gun manufacturer accountability legislation, supporting community-based violence prevention efforts, and organizing mutual aid to address immediate needs. I understand that real safety requires meeting people's needs, not criminalizing poverty, mental illness, addiction, or survival. That's what I'll fight for in Springfield.
LGBTQ+ Rights & Inclusion
Demi will fight to protect and affirm the dignity, safety, and rights of LGBTQ+ Illinoisans, no exceptions, no compromise. As a proud queer Latina, I know what it means to fight for your right to exist in spaces designed to exclude you. I defended transgender soldiers' rights in the Army National Guard, protections we've now lost under this administration. I've organized for LGBTQ+ liberation, shown up at pride events and protests, and lived the reality that our rights are constantly under attack. The 13th District is home to vibrant LGBTQ+ communities and institutions, including Boystown, and I will be an unwavering champion for our community in Springfield. What I'll Fight For: Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Protections: Strengthen and enforce protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and healthcare. Close any remaining loopholes allowing discrimination. Protect and Expand Gender-Affirming Healthcare: Defend access to gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy, surgeries, puberty blockers, and mental health support for people of all ages. Shield Illinois providers from out-of-state legal attacks and prosecution. Mandate insurance coverage for gender-affirming care without discrimination or unnecessary barriers. Protect youth access to affirming healthcare against parental forced outing or coercion. Defend Trans Rights Under Attack: Oppose all legislation restricting transgender people's rights, including bathroom bans, sports participation restrictions, and healthcare access limitations. Protect trans youth from being used as political pawns. Ensure state identification documents (driver's licenses, birth certificates) can be updated to reflect gender identity without barriers. LGBTQ+ Youth Support: Fund safe spaces, drop-in centers, and youth programs specifically serving LGBTQ+ young people. Address disproportionate LGBTQ+ youth homelessness through targeted housing programs, family acceptance support, and shelter services affirming LGBTQ+ identities. Require schools to implement GSAs (Gender-Sexuality Alliances) and anti-bullying policies protecting LGBTQ+ students, train educators to support LGBTQ+ youth and intervene against harassment. Inclusive Education: Require LGBTQ+-inclusive curricula in schools that teach accurate histories of LGBTQ+ movements, contributions, and experiences. Mandate comprehensive sex education, including LGBTQ+ relationships, consent, and sexual health. Oppose book bans targeting LGBTQ+ content and stories. Ensure school policies protect trans and nonbinary students' rights to use facilities matching their gender identity and be addressed by correct names and pronouns. Combat Violence and Hate Crimes: Strengthen hate crime laws and enforcement protecting LGBTQ+ people, especially trans women of color who face disproportionate violence: Fund LGBTQ+ anti-violence programs and support services for survivors. Increase LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for law enforcement. Address how policing disproportionately harms LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people and LGBTQ+ people of color. Healthcare Access Beyond Gender-Affirming Care: Ensure LGBTQ+ people access culturally competent, affirming healthcare for all needs, including: PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) access: Guarantee free or low-cost PrEP for HIV prevention without insurance barriers, stigma, or discrimination. Expand PrEP awareness campaigns in LGBTQ+ communities. Ensure PrEP is available through community health centers, pharmacies, and telehealth without requiring disclosure of sexual orientation. HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment: Comprehensive HIV services including testing, treatment, PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis), and support services. End HIV criminalization laws that stigmatize and harm people living with HIV. STI testing and treatment: Accessible, stigma-free STI testing and treatment, recognizing LGBTQ+ people face barriers to sexual health services. Mental health care: Address minority stress, trauma, and disproportionate mental health challenges in LGBTQ+ communities. Reproductive healthcare: Ensure LGBTQ+ people who can become pregnant access abortion care, contraception, and prenatal services. Substance abuse treatment: Address disproportionate substance abuse rates in LGBTQ+ communities through affirming, accessible treatment. Family Recognition and Protections: Protect LGBTQ+ families' rights to adoption, foster care, and fertility services without discrimination. Ensure parental rights are recognized regardless of family structure. Defend marriage equality against any attempts to roll back protections. Support policies recognizing chosen family and non-traditional family structures. Economic Justice for LGBTQ+ Communities: Address employment discrimination, forcing LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, into poverty or survival economies. Support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship and small business development. Ensure workplace protections include gender identity and expression. Address how economic insecurity compounds other vulnerabilities for LGBTQ+ people. Intersectional Protections: Recognize that LGBTQ+ people of color, immigrant LGBTQ+ people, disabled LGBTQ+ people, and LGBTQ+ seniors face compounded discrimination and barriers. Ensure policies address intersecting identities and don't just serve white, cisgender LGBTQ+ people. Senior LGBTQ+ Support: Fund LGBTQ+-affirming senior services, housing, and long-term care. Protect LGBTQ+ seniors from discrimination in nursing homes and assisted living. Address the isolation many LGBTQ+ seniors face after a lifetime of discrimination. Immigrant LGBTQ+ Protections: Ensure LGBTQ+ immigrants and asylum seekers fleeing persecution receive protections and support. Prevent ICE detention of LGBTQ+ people in facilities where they face violence and abuse. Recognize LGBTQ+ persecution as grounds for asylum. Mental Health and Suicide Prevention: Address disproportionate mental health challenges and suicide rates in LGBTQ+ communities, especially youth, through targeted mental health funding, crisis intervention, and affirming support services. Ban conversion therapy for minors and work toward a complete ban: Fund LGBTQ+ peer support and community mental health programs. Public Accommodations and Spaces: Ensure LGBTQ+ people can access public spaces, services, and facilities without discrimination or harassment. Defend LGBTQ+ community centers, bars, and gathering spaces as essential infrastructure. Support LGBTQ+ cultural institutions and events. Data Collection and Research: Require state agencies to collect data on sexual orientation and gender identity to identify disparities and target resources, fund research on LGBTQ+ health, economic, and social outcomes. Use data to drive policy improvements. Defend Against Federal Attacks: Use state power to protect LGBTQ+ Illinoisans from Trump administration attacks on our rights. Refuse to comply with federal directives targeting LGBTQ+ people. Coordinate with other states defending LGBTQ+ rights. Why This Matters: LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. Our community faces violence, discrimination, economic insecurity, and political attacks designed to erase us. I will never compromise on LGBTQ+ freedom and dignity. As a queer woman who's fought for trans soldiers, organized for liberation, and lived the reality of fighting for space to exist, I will be Springfield's fiercest LGBTQ+ champion. Our rights are non-negotiable, our dignity is not up for debate, and our existence will not be erased.
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Demi Palecek is a former member of the US Air Force and an active member of the Army National Guard. Use of her military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by either branch of service, the Department of Defense or any branch of U.S. government.