[1][2] The 54th district, located in Central Illinois, includes all or parts of Christian, Cumberland, Effingham, Macon, Macoupin, Menard, Montgomery, Moultrie, Sangamon, and Shelby counties.
[10] While working for the Senate Republicans, he earned a master's degree in political studies from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
[22] In February 2021, Sam McCann was indicted by a federal grand jury for charges related to his alleged misuse of campaign money for personal expenses.
[24] The 54th district contains all or parts of Christian, Cumberland, Effingham, Macon, Macoupin, Menard, Montgomery, Sangamon, and Shelby counties.
[26] Additionally, Debolt was endorsed by state Senator Darren Bailey, who became the Republican nominee for governor that year.
[30] His first bill that became law was legislation that allowed for special license plates to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research.
[35] Later in 2021, McClure introduced and passed legislation to address the Illinois public school teacher shortage and COVID-19 student learning gap.
[39] At the time of her murder, DCFS investigators were not allowed to carry any defensive tools with them, including pepper spray.
[40] In 2017, DCFS investigator Pamela Knight was murdered by a man who pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the head while she was attempting to take a child into protective custody.
B. Pritzker's first years in office, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, a 15-person body appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate, began voting to release very controversial inmates on parole.
[48] The Senate, made up of a super majority of members of Governor Pritzker's party, chose not to call any of the appointments to be confirmed.
[53] One of Governor Pritzker's more recent appointments to the Board at the time of the press conference was Max Cerda, a community activist who was also a convicted double murderer.
[55] The controversy came to a head when McClure had the chance to question the chair of the Prisoner Review Board in an unrelated appropriations committee hearing in March 2022.
[57] The day after McClure's questions in committee, Governor Pritzker removed Max Cerda from the Prisoner Review Board.
[67] McClure began representing the 54th district in the Illinois Senate in January 2023, and continued serving in leadership as Assistant Leader.
[74] Senator McClure and former state Representative Mike Murphy were honored with a road designation by Leland Grove, Illinois.