Tom Rooney (IL)

About Senator Rooney Illinois State Senator Tom Rooney 27th District After being elected to represent the 27th District in the Illinois General Assembly, Senator Tom Rooney joined the ranks of Senate Republican lawmakers in September 2016. Currently, Senator Rooney serves as the Minority Spokesperson on the Senate Higher Education Committee and is a member of the Gaming Committee, Appropriations II Committee, and Licensed Activities and Pensions Committee. Senator Rooney also serves on the Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee and the Government Reform Committee. Senator Rooney has a history of civic participation, beginning in 2000 when he was appointed to the Rolling Meadows City Council. Senator Rooney went on to be elected as an Alderman on the Council in 2001 and won reelection in 2005. As a firm proponent of term limits, Senator Rooney declined to run for a third term as Alderman. Senator Rooney’s passion for service called him back to office in 2011 when he was elected mayor of Rolling Meadows and again in 2015 when he ran unopposed for a second term. Senator Rooney served as mayor until November of 2016 when he was chosen to fill the Senate seat for the 27th District. Before being called to serve his community in government, Senator Rooney first served his nation as intelligence specialist in the Marine Corps Reserves. Senator Rooney would serve in the Reserves from 1986 to 1992, concurrently working to earn his degrees. Senator Rooney would go on to earn a B.A. degree in history from Loyola University and then a Master’s in Public Administration from Northern Illinois University. For the past 20 years, Senator Rooney has taught economics and history at West Leyden High School, skillfully balancing his education career with his duties in local government. Senator Rooney is passionate about teaching and has been recognized for his commitment to education by the Foundation for Teaching Economics’ (FTE) who awarded him the nationwide “Excellence in Economic Education” award in 2001. A long-time resident of the 27th District, Tom and his wife, Susan, currently reside in Rolling Meadows and have four children, Chris, Brian, Adam, and Christopher. The 27th Senate District includes the communities of Arlington Heights, Barrington, Des Plaines, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Mt. Prospect, Palatine, Prospect Heights, and Rolling Meadows.