# Kimberly Lightford

Kimberly Lightford is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for district 4.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Illinois Senate, district 4
- Serving since: 1998-11-20
- Current term: IL 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/595f7bf4-5bd7-4238-94a3-e14d8b6d4545

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/595f7bf4-5bd7-4238-94a3-e14d8b6d4545 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Lightford missed 18% of 1,502 roll calls, attendance in the bottom 5% of the Illinois Senate (average 95.4%).

## What Lightford says (IL 2025–26 session)

149 classified statements: 149 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Lightford | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 248 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 2.7% | 10.3% | 238 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 52.3% | 42.9% | 117 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.7% | 3.4% | 244 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 6.0% | 16.1% | 250 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Health 33% (State Senate Democrats 17%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 32% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Commerce 9.0% (State Senate Democrats 3.6%); Crime and Law Enforcement 7.7% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Families 7.7% (State Senate Democrats 5.0%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.68 (standard error 0.04), from 93 donors and 1,246 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 44% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (IL 2025–26 session)

1,502 roll calls. Attendance 82% (Illinois Senate 95.4%). Party unity 100% (95.3%). 0 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (IL 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 80 bills: 80 reached committee, 38 passed one chamber, 24 passed both, 17 became law. Cosponsored 153. 53.8% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Illinois Senate 42.1%; rank 10 of 59).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SJR 67: ADJOURN HOUSE & SENATE (passed both chambers, 2026-06-01) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SJR67/
- SR 820: MEMORIAL-DENNIS E. LARIA (passed one chamber, 2026-06-01) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR820/
- SR 690: MEMORIAL-BUTLER MCGEE JR. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-26) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR690/
- SB 4166: PEN CD-STATE SYS-FUNDING (in committee, 2026-03-04) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4166/
- SR 626: CONGRATS-BUDDY BEAR WAY (passed one chamber, 2026-03-05) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR626/
- SB 4065: MUNI CD-HOME RULE POWERS (in committee, 2026-02-24) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4065/
- SB 4055: SCH CD-WORLD LANGUAGE (in committee, 2026-02-17) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4055/
- SB 3820: INDUSTRIAL HEMP-FEDERAL CHANGE (in committee, 2026-05-22) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3820/
- SB 4026: SCH CD-FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQ (in committee, 2026-06-01) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4026/
- SB 4013: LONG TERM CARE-NOTICE (in committee, 2026-02-06) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4013/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $122.1K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 85% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-20 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2112563490804187166
- 2026-10-16 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2111113686979154307
- 2026-10-05 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2107127169285517806
- 2026-10-02 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2106039753581928525
- 2026-10-02 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2106115250785538312
- 2026-10-01 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2105737857625375115
- 2026-09-13 · Post on X · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2099151122896224687
- 2026-09-11 · Post on X · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2098426354546909314
- 2026-09-07 · Post on X · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2096976801872421332
- 2026-09-01 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LLCoolK_4/status/2094802463551619572

## Links

- Official site: https://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?GA=103&MemberID=3023
- Campaign site: https://www.senatorlightford.com/
- X: https://x.com/LLCoolK_4
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyALightford
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leaderlightford/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/595f7bf4-5bd7-4238-94a3-e14d8b6d4545