Graciela Guzmán (she/her/ella) serves as the state senator for District 20 and as an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union. Before becoming state senator, she served as chief of staff for Senator Cristina Pacione-Zayas and political director for her and Senator Omar Aquino.

Her passion for health care, community, and helping others is derived from her family’s early experiences immigrating to the United States from El Salvador to escape the Salvadoran Civil War. She graduated from Grinnell College in 2011 with a degree in anthropology and serves on their Board of Trustees.

Graciela has organized policy campaigns around health care, child welfare, economic justice and immigration. As campaign director for the Healthy Illinois campaign, Graciela secured a key victory by making Illinois the first state in the nation to expand health care to low-income adults age 55 and older regardless of their immigration status. At the height of the pandemic, she helped form the Belmont Cragin Mutual Aid and Northwest Mutual Aid hub to serve families in Belmont Cragin, Hermosa, Belmont Gardens, Logan Square, Irving Park, and Portage Park.