On Monday, state Sen. Karina Villa of West Chicago officially announced her bid for Illinois comptroller in the 2026 election.
She joins a growing list of candidates vying for the seat after current Comptroller Susana Mendoza announced last month that she wouldn’t seek reelection, leaving open the possibility of challenging Brandon Johnson in a bid for Chicago mayor.
Villa, a Democrat, has been the state senator for District 25 — which includes portions of municipalities like Aurora, West Chicago and South Elgin — since 2020, when she defeated Republican Jeanette Ward and, in doing so, flipped a Republican-held seat, according to past reporting.
Before that, she was the state representative for the 49th District. She also served as a West Chicago School District board member, and said she previously worked as a school social worker.
In addition to Villa, other Democrats that have thrown their hats in the ring for the 2026 comptroller race include state Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago; state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego; Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim and Champaign County Auditor George Danos, according to past reporting. Croke narrowly won the Cook County Democratic slatemakers’ endorsement for comptroller last month.
The comptroller’s responsibilities include maintaining the state’s central fiscal accounts, ordering payments into and out of the funds held by the state treasurer and signing paychecks or granting approval to electronic payments by the state to its employees and creditors, among other duties, per the state.
On Monday, Villa said her financial background included addressing student needs while still passing a balanced budget each year when she served as a West Chicago School District board member. Likewise, she said, her time in the state legislature involved passing budgets, even when programs that she “really stood for” were cut, like a health care program for immigrant adults that was sunsetted in July, according to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
“There is a give-and-take with budgets, and it’s not always pretty,” Villa said.
Villa ended the most recent quarter with roughly $12,000 in her campaign committee’s coffers, and this month alone has received more than $100,000 to her committee, according to records from the State Board of Elections.
According to a news release from Villa, she’s so far been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago; U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García, D-Chicago; and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.
As for her goals if she were elected comptroller, Villa said that, as a member of the Senate Progressive Caucus, her priority has been finding “progressive revenue solutions … in order to not put the revenue burden on the backs of the working people.”
For example, Villa said she’s supportive of a state constitutional amendment to “make sure that the middle class are getting a tax break and that the billionaires and the corporations are getting taxed at the level that they need to be contributing to our society.”
Funding education with that revenue should be the priority, according to Villa. She said her goal is for this kind of tax policy to reduce school districts’ need to increase property tax levies each year because they “can’t count on the state to be providing the funds that they need to,” thereby providing property tax relief for taxpayers, she said.
“The working people’s bills that are decisions (that) are having to be made every single day, those are the bills that I understand how to balance,” she said. “And those are the folks that I am going to be fighting for.”
She said on Monday that her time as a school social worker in West Chicago influenced her decision to seek public office in the first place.
Villa described the state budget impasse nearly a decade ago under Gov. JB Pritzker’s predecessor, one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, and said she saw its impact on the families she worked with.
She likened that experience to the present, saying that it’s “only going to be worse” under President Donald Trump’s administration, describing concerns over things like changes in SNAP eligibility and health care access.
In addition to education, Villa said on Monday she’d support prioritizing things like safety net hospitals and essential services at the state level.
“Budgets are on spreadsheets to some people,” Villa said. “To me, budgets are a moral document. … I have personal stories of my former students, of my current constituents. That’s what drives me every day to keep going.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
