Laura Ellman

Democratic Party

Candidate, Illinois State Senate District 21

Illinois State Senate District 21

Tenure

2019 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

7

Predecessor:Michael Connelly (R)

Compensation

Base salary

$93,712/year

Per diem

$178/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Next election

March 17, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

Grinnell College

Graduate

University of Iowa

Personal

Profession

Quality Engineer

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Official X

Official Instagram

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign X

Campaign Instagram

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Laura Ellman (Democratic Party) is a member of theIllinois State Senate, representingDistrict 21. She assumed office on January 9, 2019. Her current term ends on January 13, 2027.

Ellman (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to theIllinois State Senate to representDistrict 21. She is on the ballot in the Democratic primary onMarch 17, 2026.^[source]

Biography

Laura Ellman grew up in Hanover Park, Illinois and lives in Naperville, Illinois. She graduated from Elgin High School, earned a B.A. in mathematics from Grinnell College, and earned an M.S. in statistics from the University of Iowa. Professionally, Ellman has worked as a quality engineer for multiple companies, including 3M, Alcoa, Phonak and Argonne National Laboratory.^[1][2]

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Ellman was assigned to the following committees:

• Environment and Conservation Committee,Chair
• Senate Financial Institutions Committee,Vice-Chair
• Human Rights Committee
• Senate Insurance Committee
• Transportation Committee
• Legislative Audit Commission

2023-2024

Ellman was assigned to the following committees:

• Agriculture Committee
• Energy and Public Utilities Committee,Vice Chair
• Senate Financial Institutions Committee,Chair
• Senate Higher Education Committee
• Transportation Committee

2021-2022

Ellman was assigned to the following committees:

• Agriculture Committee
• Energy and Public Utilities Committee,Vice-Chair
• Senate Financial Institutions Committee,Chair
• Senate Higher Education Committee
• Transportation Committee
• Legislative Audit Commission

2019-2020

Ellman was assigned to the following committees:

• Agriculture Committee
• Appropriations I Committee
• Committee of the Whole
• Energy and Public Utilities Committee
• Senate Higher Education Committee,Vice Chair
• Veterans Affairs Committee
• Government Accountability and Pensions Committee

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2026

See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 21

IncumbentLaura Ellman (D) is running in the Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 21 on March 17, 2026.

		Candidate
		Laura Ellman

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined.
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Republican primary

Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 21

Julie Berkowicz (R) is running in the Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 21 on March 17, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Julie Berkowicz

---

	There are noincumbents in this race.
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Endorsements

2022

See also: Illinois State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Illinois State Senate District 21

IncumbentLaura Ellman defeatedKathleen Murray in the general election for Illinois State Senate District 21 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Ellman (D)	58.8	51,200
		Kathleen Murray (R)	41.2	35,876

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 87,076
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 21

IncumbentLaura Ellman advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 21 on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Ellman	100.0	18,468

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,468
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 21

Kathleen Murray advanced from the Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 21 on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kathleen Murray	100.0	13,927

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,927
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also:Illinois State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Illinois State Senate District 21

Laura Ellman defeated incumbentMichael Connelly in the general election for Illinois State Senate District 21 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Ellman (D)	50.6	49,928
		Michael Connelly (R)	49.4	48,749

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 98,677 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 21

Laura Ellman advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois State Senate District 21 on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Ellman	100.0	18,438

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 18,438
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 21

IncumbentMichael Connelly advanced from the Republican primary for Illinois State Senate District 21 on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael Connelly	100.0	17,952

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 17,952
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Laura Ellman has not yet completedBallotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.Send a message to Laura Ellman asking her to fill out the survey. If you are Laura Ellman,click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?

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You can ask Laura Ellman to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing campaign@ellmanforillinois.com.

2022

Laura Ellman did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Illinois

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Illinois scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

See also

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External links

Footnotes

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