Sonya Marie Harper

Sonya Marie Harper has represented the 6th District since October 2015.¹ She was a television news producer and executive director of Grow Greater Englewood.² She chairs the House Agriculture & Conservation Committee.³ Her campaign says she authored the Illinois Farmer Equity Act and the state's cannabis social equity provisions, along with laws on school lead testing and residents' right to garden.³ In a 2026 op-ed, she wrote that cannabis equity work remains unfinished.⁴

Her website highlights a law she supported to ban certain chemicals in cosmetics. She sponsored a law to eliminate food deserts. She proposed a bill for state institutions to buy from local farmers. She sponsored a resolution to create a gun violence task force.^{4, 5, 6}