Democratic state Rep. Justin Slaughter and challenger Tawana “TJ” Robinson both say addressing crime is their top priority, but they offered different approaches to address the issue.
Slaughter and Robinson will face off in the March Democratic Primary for the 27th Illinois House District, which covers parts of Chicago’s South Side as well as Blue Island, Midlothian and Orland Park. They both ran for the seat in 2018.
Slaughter, 43, grew up in Chicago’s Brainerd Park neighborhood. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago and master’s degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University.
Robinson, 48, grew up in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood and graduated from Morgan Park High School. She has a master’s degree in special education from Dominican University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Roosevelt University, she said.
When former Gov. Pat Quinn signed the 2010 Performance Evaluation Reform Act, which changed how teachers’ and principals’ performance was measured, Robinson said she saw teachers weren’t being evaluated fairly and losing jobs. As a result, Robinson said, many neighborhood Chicago Public Schools were closed.
Watching this shift in education in the state, Robinson said she decided to run for the House seat.
“I decided at that moment that I needed to be a part of the decision making process. I needed to be at the table with the stakeholders in the general assembly so that I can effect systemic change and school reform that took a common sense approach to dealing with the challenges that we face in the public school system,” Robinson said.
Robinson said as a daughter of a Chicago police officer, she would be tough on crime, focusing on banning military style assault weapons and automatic modifications, ending loopholes that allow people with a criminal record access to firearms and committing grant funding to nonprofit, community-based violence prevention programs.
Robinson said she’d also focus on building a better economy by freezing property taxes for seniors, expanding property relief for homeowners and demanding the ultra wealthy pay “their fare share” of taxes.
Robinson said she’d work toward paid leave for every worker, lower prescription costs and defend reproductive health care.
“I share the vision of many of my constituents,” Robinson said. “I’m a strategic visionary and leader who has the ability to garner support from all stakeholders … to make our vision manifest into a reality.”
Slaughter said he’s proud to be the house sponsor of the SAFE-T Act, which he said focuses on addressing crime and addresses race disparities within the criminal justice system.
The SAFE-T Act addresses police reform, including use of force training and body cameras, Slaughter said. It also eliminates cash bail, which Slaughter said prioritizes community safety over a defendant’s financial means.
Slaughter said he’s also proud to be the house sponsor of the Reimagine Safety Act, which invests $250 million to prevent violence through a series of Illinois Department of Human Services grants for youth development and violence prevention initiatives.
He’s seeking reelection to see the implementation of the laws he’s helped shape. Slaughter said he’s part of discussions about budgets and collaborations for various laws he has worked on.
Slaughter said he would also like to address health care, environmental and housing disparities that affect the Black community. Slaughter said he’d like to focus on community revitalization and workforce development.
“I want to be at the forefront of doing that,” Slaughter said.
Slaughter was an intern for U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and later 6th Ward Chicago Ald. Freddrenna Lyle. After graduation, Slaughter was the district director for state Sen. Kwame Raoul before becoming a policy adviser for Gov. Pat Quinn.
Slaughter became the deputy director of programs for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. He worked for Cook County government before being appointed to the 27th District seat in 2017, he said.
Robinson taught special education at George Washington Carver Elementary School, she said, and went on to teach special education at John Marshall Metropolitan High School.
Robinson became the dean of students at Proviso East High School in Maywood, where she said she became more involved with politics, joining the Proviso Township Democratic Organization, where she worked alongside state Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch, who is now speaker.
Robinson said she is a teacher and the CEO of It Takes A Village, a nonprofit organization to establish a trade and technical school within the 27th District to help young men train for jobs.
Robinson said she has been a member of various instructional leadership teams, where she worked with school board members, administrators, teachers and stakeholders to determine school policies.
Slaughter is the chairperson of the House Judiciary and Criminal Committee and serves on many others, including State Government Administration, Public Utilities and State Government Administration. He is also the house chairperson of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.
