# Chris Balkema

Chris Balkema is a Republican member of the Illinois Senate for district 53.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Illinois Senate, district 53
- Serving since: 2025-01-08
- Current term: IL 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/fe9dc27f-4e47-4cb0-a008-df80642f6be0

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/fe9dc27f-4e47-4cb0-a008-df80642f6be0 (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

20% of the 74 bills Balkema sponsored got out of committee, in the bottom quarter of the Illinois Senate.

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.23 (standard error 0.02), from 113 donors and 292 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 31% of State Senate Republicans score lower.

## Votes (IL 2025–26 session)

1,502 roll calls. Attendance 99.0% (Illinois Senate 95.4%). Party unity 95.7% (95.3%). 40 votes against the party majority.

## Legislation (IL 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 74 bills: 74 reached committee, 15 passed one chamber, 8 passed both, 6 became law. Cosponsored 343. 20.3% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Illinois Senate 42.1%; rank 52 of 59).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SR 854: RECOGNIZES-NEHEMIAH ALLIANCE (in committee, 2026-05-30) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR854/
- SB 4211: FINANCE-APPROPRIATIONS (in committee, 2026-05-28) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4211/
- SR 802: MEMORIAL-LINDA J. HANBACK (passed one chamber, 2026-05-14) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR802/
- SR 792: CONGRATS-GRAND PRAIRIE FRIENDS (in committee, 2026-05-13) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR792/
- SR 749: IL BACON DAY (in committee, 2026-04-30) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR749/
- SB 4186: $IROQUOIS COUNTY CUSD #9 (in committee, 2026-04-14) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB4186/
- SR 696: NEC AWARENESS MONTH/DAY (passed one chamber, 2026-05-06) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR696/
- SR 686: CONGRATS-KADE HILL (passed one chamber, 2026-04-16) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SR686/
- SB 3936: STROKE CARE MODERNIZATION (passed one chamber, 2026-05-15) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3936/
- SB 3937: END-OF-LIFE OPTIONS-DEATH CERT (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/il/bills/104th/SB3937/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $72.8K (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). 100% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Links

- Official site: https://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?MemberID=3413
- Campaign site: https://chrisbalkema.com/
- X: https://x.com/chrisbalkema
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552233214625
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senatorchrisbalkema/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@senatorchrisbalkema
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/state-senator-chris-balkema-45589a62/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/fe9dc27f-4e47-4cb0-a008-df80642f6be0