Janice D. "Jan" Schakowsky is the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 9th congressional district, serving since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes many of Chicago's northern suburbs, including Niles, Evanston, Skokie, Wilmette, Winnetka, Park Ridge, Des Plaines and Rosemont. It also includes a large portion of Chicago's North Side bordering Lake Michigan. Schakowsky, born in 1944 in the city of Chicago, is of Russian descent. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in elementary education where she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon ... sorority. She was Program Director of Illinois Public Action, Illinois' largest public interest group, from 1976 to 1985. She then moved to the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens as executive director for five years until 1990, when she was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. She served there for four terms. Schakowsky is by some accounts the most Progressive member of the current US Congress. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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