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Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza – Illinois’ highest vote-getter and first Hispanic independently elected to statewide office.
Susana A. Mendoza was elected to her third term as Illinois Comptroller on November 8, 2022. She earned the distinction of being the highest vote-getter in the November 2022 General Election, earning 2,331,714 votes. She is the highest ranking and first Hispanic independently elected to statewide office in Illinois.
A tested and proven executive officer, Susana has successfully navigated the State through unprecedented fiscal challenges, in a way that doesn’t put the burden on the backs of the working-class families that make Illinois such a great place to live.
As Comptroller, Susana brought the same tenacity, passion, and creativity that she always exhibited throughout her career in public service.
She is an independent, truth-telling, fiscal watchdog that prioritizes both the fiscal and moral health of the State. As the state’s Chief Fiscal and Accountability Officer, Susana has championed greater transparency in the state’s fiscal accounts.
“Primary architect of Illinois’ financial turnaround”
As the state’s Chief Fiscal and Accountability Officer, Susana’s historic hallmark transparency reform legislation, the Debt Transparency Act, requires state agencies to report monthly, rather than only once a year, their accrued liabilities as well as late payment interest penalties associated to those liabilities.
Building upon that success, Susana spearheaded the Truth in Hiring Act to ensure that future governors present honest budgets that accurately reflect the size and cost of their staff.
Comptroller Mendoza is laser-focused on shining a greater light on the state’s finances in order to best protect how taxpayers’ dollars are spent, provide greater accountability, and set the state on a better path towards responsible cash and debt management.
Beyond these historic transparency reforms, Comptroller Mendoza is a primary architect of Illinois’ financial turnaround.
She eliminated the state’s backlog of unpaid bills, down from a staggering backlog of $16.7 billion, to a working Accounts Payable under $3 billion, without using ARPA federal stimulus funds.
She has focused on paying down debt service early, saving taxpayers millions in interest payments.
She brought the state’s vendor payment cycle down from a strangling 210 working days to well under 30 days – the fastest vendor payment cycle in over 20 years, and her fiscal leadership helped secure Illinois 9 full credit upgrades, the first in over two decades – in the middle of a global pandemic.
Comptroller Mendoza’s work successfully managing the state’s finances through historic crises, earned her the distinction of becoming the first statewide Democrat to ever be endorsed by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to her statewide election, Susana made history by becoming the first woman ever elected as Chicago City Clerk. Under her leadership, more than 1.3 million Chicago City Vehicle Sticker customers were shifted from an inefficient and archaic seasonal sales program to Year-Round Sales. The new system, modeled after the Illinois Secretary of State’s license plate renewal program, resulted in millions of dollars of new revenue and vastly improved customer service at a lower cost to taxpayers. The program was awarded a 2015 “Bright Idea Award” from Harvard University.
Prior to her service as Chicago City Clerk, Susana served six terms between 2001 and 2011 as a Democrat in the Illinois House of Representatives.
Starting as the youngest member of the 92nd Illinois General Assembly, she quickly earned a reputation as a tenacious and effective legislator, who stood out for her bipartisan approach to governing. Susana was routinely recognized for her leadership in the areas of social services, education, job creation, law enforcement, and animal welfare.
As a State Representative, Susana served as Co-Chairperson of the Conference of Women Legislators and has served three times as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She is a co-founder of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus and a member of HOPE (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality) Binational Fellowship Program. She is a proud Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow.
Tapped to serve in the US Department of State’s Professional Speaker’s Program, Susana has promoted democracy and leadership across the globe, in places like Uganda, Tanzania, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Chile. She was also Chairman of the Illinois International Trade and Commerce Committee.
In 2010, Susana was selected by the National Conference of Women Legislators, at the behest of the US Secretary of State, to serve as one of only seven elected women representing the United States as an international observer of the Iraqi elections in Baghdad.
Susana lives in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood with her husband David, their 11-year-old son, and her 88-year-old mother. She is a foodie, a soccer fan (and former collegiate soccer player), and occasionally loves jumping out of perfectly fine airplanes.