Press

Have a press inquiry? Our team is here to help. Please direct all requests to Philip Shelly via email at philip.shelly@mail.house.gov or by phone at (202) 913-1021.

Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski represents Illinois’ 13th Congressional District and is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. She was first elected to the House in 2022 and came to Congress to fight for working families. With a background in the labor movement as well as in state and federal government, her mission is to restore the American Dream, rebuild the middle class and deliver results for communities in Central and Southern Illinois.

Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski is a lifelong champion for working families, a Springfield resident and the proud Representative for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District.

A native of  Illinois, Nikki knows that our communities thrive when the middle class is strong. But for too long, working hard and playing by the rules hasn’t been paying off like it should. She believes that families deserve better, and she’s spent her entire career fighting to help restore the American Dream for people like her grandpa, a union painter, and her grandma, a public school teacher.

That’s why she joined the labor movement, and fought to get firefighters, grocery workers and meatpackers better training, wages and workplace safety protections. It’s why she led negotiations to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 an hour and chaired the Broadband Advisory Board to expand internet access to rural communities. And it’s why she helped the Biden-Harris Administration implement the American Rescue Plan and establish the Made in America Office to create jobs and strengthen our economy.

Nikki came to Congress to build on that work. As she brings the voices of people in Central and Southern Illinois to Washington, she’s focused on putting their needs over petty politics, reaching for compromise and delivering results for the communities she serves.

Nikki graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – a school she’s now honored to represent.