MOORE’S SUMMARY: Jessica Dixon Heitman was appointed to complete the term of former Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, and replace him on the November ballot. She beat out six other challengers to receive the nod from the Democratic Party chairs in Will and Kendall counties.
“Jessica Dixon Heitman will be a strong, persistent, ethical, and effective advocate for the people of the 97th District,” said Will County Democratic Party Chair Billy Morgan. “She brings bold ideas and moral clarity to this new challenge, and I know we can count on her to fight for reform and help bring more accountability and transparency to our state government.”
WHO IS SHE? Heitman is a public relations professional who served stints doing communications for the Illinois Senate and House. She was briefly Benton’s media and community outreach coordinator in 2023. She lives in Plainfield with her husband and three daughters.
And yes, she is the granddaughter of late two-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon.
TOUGHER ETHICS: In a statement delivered after being sworn in, Heitman pledged to be “a leading voice for tougher ethics legislation.” It comes in wake of Benton’s resignation after an LIG report outlining “clear patterns of conduct” including alleged sexual harassment was delivered to House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside.
“There is a pressing need for laws that will set forth clear procedures and timelines for investigations of harassment by elected officials or staff,” Heitman said. “…As I take on this new duty, I am going to do everything I can to make sure that our district builds the reputation it deserves – as a place that values community, ethics, civility, fiscal responsibility, and justice.”
Heitman said her priorities will be to “strengthen our public schools, ease the property tax burden, support local businesses, support workers’ rights, and bring equity to our broken healthcare system.”
WHY IT MATTERS: The 97th House District is one of the few truly competitive districts in Illinois’ heavily gerrymandered legislative map. Benton won it twice against Republicans by margins under five percentage points. Gov. JB Pritzker carried it by seven percentage points in 2022 and Vice President Kamala Harris won it by four percentage points in 2024. Republican Gabby Shanahan, who lost in 2024, is running again.
Heitman is immediately thrust into a tier-one legislative race. If past is prologue, Democratic leadership and organized labor will spend heavily to defend the seat against Shanahan, a former Illinois Policy Institute staffer.
HOUSE GOP POUNCES: The political arm of the Illinois House Republicans was quick to criticize Heitman, who worked in the Benton’s district office with the female staffer who detailed in an explosive Chicago Tribune report last week multiple instances of harassment at his hands.
In a press release, the organization included a screenshot of Heitman commenting on the staffer’s LinkedIn in 2023 that “Harry needs to go.”
“Jessica Dixon Heitman has an obligation to answer the questions the people of the 97th District deserve to know,” said House Republican Organization political director Mark Cavers. “If she believed Harry Benton ‘needed to go,’ then voters deserve to know what she knew, when she knew it, and why she didn’t speak out.”
Heitman told the Tribune after her appointment that she worked for Benton “for a short amount of time” and that it “was not a great fit” and “a hard thing to talk about.”
SHANAHAN’S RESPONSE: “A new appointment does not erase months of missed representation. Our district needs a new kind of leadership, not just a new name on the door. The people of this district deserve a representative who shows up, listens, and delivers. That’s exactly my record, and I look forward to earning their trust and their vote this November,” she said in a statement.
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