Congresswoman Robin Kelly has dedicated her career to public service as an advocate for Illinois families. Since being elected to serve the 2nd Congressional District in 2013, she has worked to expand economic opportunity, community wellness, and public safety across the state, championing numerous initiatives to generate job growth, reduce health disparities, and end gun violence.
Congresswoman Kelly is a Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (the main investigative body of the House), and serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Information Technology, where she has focused her efforts on improving cyber-security, strengthening IT-infrastructure, and encouraging new and emerging technologies. Congresswoman Kelly also serves on the Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on National Security, which oversees the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
As the lone Illinois representative on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congresswoman Kelly has laid out a forward-thinking foreign policy vision for the United States and has been an outspoken proponent of diplomacy, international human rights and the need for clear and thoughtful American leadership abroad.
A staunch champion of common sense gun reforms and responsible community policing, Congresswoman Kelly, who is a Co-Chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce, was tapped to sit on the House Task Force on Community-Police Relations, and is the author of “The 2014 Kelly Report on Gun Violence in America,” the first-ever congressional analysis of the nation's gun violence epidemic that offers a blueprint for ending the crisis.
Committed to improving the health and wellness of vulnerable communities across the country, Congresswoman Kelly serves as the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust. She Co-Chairs the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, and also Co-Chairs the House Democratic Budget Group and Congressional Diversifying Technology Caucus.
Prior to her election, Congresswoman Kelly was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, served as Chief Administrative Officer of Cook County (the second largest county in the United States), and was Chief of Staff to Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias—becoming the first African-American woman to serve as Chief of Staff to an elected constitutional statewide officeholder.
The daughter of a small business owner and a postal worker, Congresswoman Kelly moved to Illinois after high school to attend Bradley University in Peoria, where she earned her B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in counseling. She later received a Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University. She lives in Matteson with her husband, Dr. Nathaniel Horn, and has two adult children, Kelly and Ryan.
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