Shocking REVOLT TOPPLES Top DEMOCRAT

A house of cards collapsing with some cards in motion — Photo: Shutterstock

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch is giving up his gavel after 26 fellow Democrats said the House needs new leadership, following months of anger over how he handled harassment complaints against a lawmaker he helped re-elect.

Story Highlights

Welch said on Thursday, November 5, that he will not seek another term as speaker.
Twenty-six current and incoming House Democrats, four from his own leadership team, said the caucus “needs new leadership.”
Welch’s office knew of a harassment complaint against then-Rep. Harry Benton in April 2023, but his campaign arm still spent $1.4 million to re-elect Benton in 2024.
A July newspaper report said Welch sent the same young staffer heart-eye emojis and invited her to a bar over an encrypted app. Welch later apologized.

Democratic Revolt Forces Welch Out Of The Speaker’s Chair

On Thursday, November 5, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Democrat from Hillside, said he will not run for another term as the chamber’s leader. He made the call one day after 26 current and incoming House Democrats signed a statement saying the caucus “needs new leadership.” The revolt followed months of criticism over how Welch handled harassment complaints against former Rep. Harry Benton, a Democrat from Plainfield. Welch will give up the gavel in January and stay on as a regular member.

Welch said, “I serve at the pleasure of the caucus, and I want our caucus to lead in unity.” In an interview on Saturday, November 7, he said of the Benton case, “I do think we could’ve handled that situation better in hindsight.” He also said, “my type of leadership is never about holding on to power. It’s never about a title.”

The 26 signers include four members of Welch’s own leadership team: Reps. Eva-Dina Delgado, Lisa Hernandez, Bob Morgan and Katie Stuart. Hernandez also chairs the Democratic Party of Illinois. The group wrote that they “each have come to this decision for our own reasons” and look forward to “a robust race for a new Speaker of the House.” Nineteen of the 26 are women. They did not name a replacement.

How The Benton Complaints Were Handled

Benton’s troubles began with a young staffer in his district office. According to a July report by the legislative inspector general, the state watchdog who looks into complaints against lawmakers, she reported his inappropriate comments and harassment to Welch’s office in April 2023. Welch’s office did not raise it with Benton until July 2023. Benton denied the allegation at the time. The staffer did not file a formal complaint with the inspector general.

The next year, the House Democratic campaign arm that Welch controls spent $1.4 million to help Benton win re-election. Benton stayed in the caucus and kept his committee posts until February 2026. That was after two more women, a lobbyist and a House district director, came forward. The inspector general found those complaints were founded and called Benton’s conduct part of “a pattern and practice of inappropriate sexual conduct.” Benton resigned in early July. In July, Welch’s office said it “acted responsibly.”

Rep. Sharon Chung of Bloomington, one of the 26, said she pressed Welch on caucus calls. “If you knew [Benton] had done this, I don’t understand why you would put money into his campaign and help him win,” she said she told him.

The Emojis And The Bar Invitation

In July, a newspaper investigation reported that Welch himself had reached out to the same staffer after she left Benton’s office. According to that report, Welch reacted to her Instagram photos with heart-eye emojis. When she asked him for career advice, he asked her to move the talk to Signal, an app that can make messages vanish after a set time, and invited her to meet him at a bar. She said several of these contacts made her uncomfortable.

Welch said he did not know he had made her uneasy until he read the report. “That certainly was not my intent, but I made her feel uncomfortable, and I have to own that,” he said in August. “I regret that and I’m embarrassed by it, and I apologize for it.” He said he has since changed how he uses social media.

A Familiar Pattern In Springfield

Welch’s fall mirrors the way he rose. He became speaker in January 2021 after longtime Speaker Michael Madigan stepped aside when 19 House Democrats said they would no longer back him amid harassment problems in the House. Madigan was later sent to federal prison in a separate corruption case. A second Democratic speaker in a row is leaving under pressure from his own members.

The timing stands out. Welch lost his grip on the gavel days after his party grew its supermajority in the November election. His allies point to wins on transit, cannabis, energy and school funding. Some members still back him, including Rep. Will Davis, and the Black caucus has been among his strongest defenders. But in a statehouse where one party holds almost every lever of power, it took a revolt from inside that party to force a change.

The Road Ahead: Who Takes The Gavel?

Four signers, Reps. Mary Beth Canty, Kelly Cassidy, Tracy Katz Muhl and Larry Walsh, said the next speaker must earn support “without interference or a finger on the scale from the current Speaker’s operation.” Canty, who chairs the House Democratic Women’s Caucus, said “it is time for us to look to women to lead us.” Illinois has never had a woman speaker.

Names being discussed include Reps. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, Ann Williams and Eva-Dina Delgado of Chicago, and Speaker Pro Tem Kam Buckner of Chicago. Rep. Marcus Evans Jr. of Chicago has said he is calling colleagues for support. A winner needs 60 votes. Lawmakers return to Springfield for the fall veto session on Tuesday, November 17, and the full House votes for speaker in January, when the new session is sworn in.