Reclaim Chicago is proud to endorse Ram Villivalam for Illinois State Senator of the 8th District, which includes parts of Chicago’s 50th Ward, Lincolnwood, Skokie, and Morton Grove because he understands that state government has the power and the responsibility to make investments in communities that suffer from neglect, discrimination and disinvestment. Ram is committed to ending Illinois’ routine passage of austerity budgets — budgets that give tax breaks to corporations and the very rich

while making cuts to education, infrastructure, public health and other things our communities need — and putting people back to work to by making state investments in our communities. As the child of immigrants from India, Ram knows the both struggles of being poor and the unique barriers standing in immigrants’ way. He is committed to fighting for the rights of immigrants. Ram has also fought for the rights of homecare workers as staff with the Service Employees International Union, and he understands that — as service jobs continue to replace manufacturing jobs — state government should support workers in the fight to improve wages and organize unions. Ram and his wife, Elizabeth, live in the Mayfair neighborhood on the Northwest side of Chicago.