Serving
Gonzalez represents HD-23, covering the heavily Latino neighborhoods of Little Village and Brighton Park plus the suburb of Cicero. As Joint Chair of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus and a Gen Z legislator, he is a rising voice for young Latinos in state politics.
Won 2024 general election unopposed with 13,674 votes. Originally appointed January 2020 to replace Celina Villanueva when she moved to the State Senate. Won 2022 redistricted HD-23 with 82% of the vote.
Edgar Gonzalez Jr. was born and raised in Little Village, Chicago, two blocks from Cook County Jail. The son of working-class immigrants from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, he attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and became the first in his family to graduate college when he earned his degree from Harvard in 2019. Sworn in at age 23, he was the youngest state representative, youngest Latino state rep, and youngest Democratic state rep inaugurated in Illinois history. He currently serves as Joint Chair of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus.
Son of working-class immigrants from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Father is an IUOE Local 399 union member, mother was formerly an SEIU Local 73 union member. Sister is a Columbia University student. First in his family to graduate from college.
Constituency services liaison to Congressman Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (immigration, social security, veterans, criminal justice, and education casework); Editorial cartoonist, The Harvard Crimson; Staff writer, Harvard Political Review; Co-founded tutoring and mentoring program for at-risk Latinx youth with Sociedad Latina (Roxbury, Boston); Volunteered as tutor for recent immigrant arrivals at Chelsea High School and Malden High School
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (2015); B.A. Government and Economics, Harvard University (2019)