Demi Palecek for Illinois State House District 13
Our Revolution is proud to endorse Demi Palecek for Illinois State House District 13 — a working-class organizer, veteran, and community advocate running to take on entrenched power and make Springfield work for everyday people.
For Demi, the struggles facing working families aren’t abstract.
She started working as a teenager, washing dishes to help her family make ends meet, and later joined the military as a pathway out of poverty. Those experiences shaped a politics rooted in worker power, economic justice, and the belief that everyone deserves the security to build a good life.
And Demi has been organizing in her community long before running for office. She has organized mutual aid, stood with workers and tenants, fought for immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, and defended transgender soldiers’ rights while serving in the Army National Guard.
Now, she’s ready to bring that fighting spirit to Springfield.
Taking on the Affordability Crisis
Demi believes housing is a human right — and she’s prepared to take on the corporate landlords and policies driving working people out of their neighborhoods.
She supports lifting Illinois’ statewide ban on rent control so communities can enact strong rent stabilization, establishing just-cause eviction protections, expanding public and permanently affordable housing, and strengthening protections for tenants.
She also understands that you can’t solve the affordability crisis without confronting economic inequality. Demi supports a living wage tied to inflation, stronger collective bargaining rights, easier pathways for workers to organize, and Project Labor Agreements that guarantee union jobs, prevailing wages, benefits, and strong safety standards on state-funded projects.
And she wants Illinois to move away from a tax system where working families shoulder too much of the burden. Demi supports progressive taxation that asks wealthy people to pay more so Illinois can invest in the public services everyone depends on.
Healthcare Is a Right
Demi is equally clear when it comes to healthcare: it should be a right, not a privilege.
She supports Medicare for All at the federal level while fighting to expand coverage in Illinois, lower prescription drug costs, strengthen community health centers, and rebuild healthcare infrastructure in working-class communities.
She’s also an unapologetic defender of reproductive freedom, supporting expanded access to abortion, contraception, fertility treatments, maternal healthcare, and other reproductive services — while protecting patients and providers from attacks coming from outside Illinois.
Building Working-Class Power
Demi’s vision for Illinois connects economic justice with climate justice.
She supports major public investment in renewable energy, green infrastructure, weatherization, and expanded public transit — investments that can tackle the climate crisis while creating good-paying union jobs. She wants polluters held accountable and clean air and water protected as basic rights.
She’s also committed to strong public schools, including universal pre-K, equitable funding, and keeping public dollars in public education rather than privatization.
Across these fights, Demi’s message is consistent: government should use its power to improve the lives of working people — not protect the profits and privilege of those already at the top.
That’s the kind of grassroots leadership Our Revolution is working to elect at every level of government.
Our Revolution is proud to endorse Demi Palecek for Illinois State House District 13.
Let’s send a working-class organizer to Springfield who knows what it means to struggle, knows how to organize, and is ready to fight for affordable housing, universal healthcare, strong unions, reproductive freedom, and an economy that puts working people first.
When we organize, we win.
Our Revolution