Full Biography

On April 9, 2013, Robin Kelly was elected to represent Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District.  Since then, Kelly has worked tirelessly to promote national safety and expand economic opportunity, sponsoring numerous bills to generate job growth and end senseless gun violence.  Kelly’s first legislation, Improving Gun Safety Standards Act, a common sense reform bill, would allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue safety standards for guns and ammunition that will help reduce gun-related deaths.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kelly currently serves on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs and National Security Subcommittees.  She also serves on the Science, Space and Technology Committee and the Research and Technology Subcommittee. 

As a former Illinois state representative and government administrator, Kelly brings extensive legislative and leadership experience to the 2nd Congressional District. She successfully sponsored bills to protect consumers from fraud, support economic development and increase the minimum wage.  She also led the fight for landmark legislation to protect victims of domestic violence and improve public safety.

Before her election to Congress, Kelly was chief administrative officer of Cook County, where she was responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and implementing policy for the second largest county in the United States.  Earlier, she served as chief of staff of the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, becoming the first African-American woman to hold that position in a constitutional office in Illinois. 

During her term as chief of staff, Kelly pursued a progressive agenda rooted in promoting small business job creation, investment strategy innovation, and advancing financial literacy in underserved areas.  She also helped transform the Treasurer’s Office – an agency that managed as much as $17 billion in state funds – by improving efficiencies, streamlining expenses and demanding stronger ethical guidelines.

Besides her Congressional committee assignments, Kelly belongs to the Congressional Black Caucus and Women’s Caucus.  She also serves on a number of boards, including the Northern Illinois University Political Science Advisory Board, Rich Township Food Pantry, the Board of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and serves as a Bradley University Trustee. In 2009, she was inducted into the university’s Centurion Society for honored alumni. She also is an active member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

A New York native, Kelly moved to Illinois after high school to attend Bradley University in Peoria, where she earned her B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in counseling. She later received a Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University.

Kelly lives in Matteson with her husband, Dr. Nathaniel Horn, and has two adult children, Kelly and Ryan.