Hon. Napoleon Harris

While playing in the NFL, State Senator Napoleon Harris founded the Napoleon Harris Foundation to help meet the physical, educational and developmental needs of children in his community. Later, he pursued public office to represent them and ensure their voices are heard in the halls of government. Despite his critical work in the community and in the Illinois General Assembly he acknowledges his most significant accomplishment is providing jobs and economic opportunity for the people who need it most. Harris takes pride in meeting a monthly payroll to ensure his employees have the income they need to provide for their families and enjoy the pride and dignity that comes with contributing to a thriving local business. Harris stands on a legislative record that reflects his values as a parent, business owner and community leader. He voted for the bill that would ensure all high school student athletes have coverage in the event they had a catastrophic injury. He helped to bring infrastructure dollars to complete the intermodal transportation hub in the 15th Illinois Senate district; and to connect Interstate 57 and 294 expressways, which was critical to solidifying the Chicagoland area as the heart of America’s network of distribution channels. He also pushed hard for summer youth employment programs and was a strong voice in the General Assembly for increasing the minimum wage. For Senator Harris, none of his achievements are as satisfying as those that bring honor to his family and a smile to his Mom’s face, including graduating high school with honors, earning a degree from Northwestern University, being drafted first round to the NFL and returning to his community to make a positive contribution. Senator Napoleon Harris is running for U.S. Senate to help preserve and restore the American Dream for anyone who is willing to work and sacrifice for it. While he supports minimum wage increases and certain entitlement programs for those stuck in a financial rut, his real vision is focused on the big dream deep in the hearts of hard working Americans who refuse to give in to apathy and hardship; those who are willing to make the sacrifice in business, in their communities and on the battlefield of foreign wars. Napoleon Harris is grateful that he has been able to live his American Dream. But the Senator is appalled that this dream has become a nightmare for too many Americans who work full time but still struggle to make ends meet, who serve their country in our armed forces but can’t receive treatment for the ailments caused by their sacrifices in war. He avers that he is running for U.S. Senate to bring the voices of poor, underserved and overlooked Americans into the most prestigious legislative body in the world; and concurrently bring the power, resources and resiliency of the United States of America to those same people who are poor, underserved and overlooked. His message to them is: “America is still great… and if you work hard you can share in its abundance and its magnificence.” Napoleon Harris is married to his high school sweetheart, Nicole. They are parents to three wonderful children.