Nikki Budzinski

Nikki Budzinski describes her grandfather as a union painter and her grandmother as a public school teacher.¹ After graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, she joined the labor movement, working on wages, benefits and workplace safety for firefighters, grocery workers and meatpackers.¹

Before Congress, she worked for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.¹ There, she helped negotiate the state's move toward a $15 minimum wage and chaired its Broadband Advisory Board, working on rural internet access.¹ She later worked at the White House Office of Management and Budget, helping implement the American Rescue Plan and establish the Made in America Office.¹

Budzinski entered Congress in 2023 and serves on the Agriculture and Veterans' Affairs committees.¹ She is the senior Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization and has helped organize the Congressional Postal Service Caucus.¹

Now seeking a third term, she identifies healthcare, utility bills, housing and family care as priorities.² She wants more support for people balancing jobs and young children with the care of aging parents.² She also criticizes the administration's tariffs, arguing that they increase costs for working families.² On immigration enforcement, she calls for significant changes at the Department of Homeland Security and stronger congressional oversight of ICE and Border Patrol.² She also backs restrictions on prediction market trading by senior officials and their families.²