Representative Theresa Mah Contact information

Theresa Mah is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives who has represented the 24th district since 2023. She previously represented the 2nd district from January 2017 until being redistricted into the 24th district. Mah was the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly. She is a co-chair of the Illinois House’s Progressive Caucus.

Mah was born in Chinatown, San Francisco. She earned a B.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago in 1999. Her dissertation was entitled “Buying into the Middle Class: Residential Segregation and Racial Formation in the United States, 1920–1964.” She worked as an assistant professor at Bowling Green State University for six years.

She returned to Chicago in 2006 to work for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and later worked for the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. During her time in the latter organization, she worked to ensure that the Chinese American population on Chicago’s South Side was covered by one electoral district during the redistricting process. She also served as an advisor to Governor Pat Quinn.

In 2016, Mah ran as a Democrat for the Illinois House of Representatives’ 2nd district seat, which was open due to incumbent Edward Acevedo ’s retirement. In the Democratic primary election, she defeated Alex Acevedo, the incumbent’s son, with 51.25% of the vote. She ran unopposed in the general election, and won re-election in both 2018 and 2020. In 2022, following redistricting, she was re-elected as the representative for the 24th district.

As Illinois State Representative, Mah has been a vocal advocate for immigrant rights, sponsoring a number of bills on the subject and appearing frequently at pro-immigrant rallies. Bills on which she has been a lead sponsor include legislation to prohibit LGBTQ discrimination in assisted or shared living facilities and to protect immigrants from discrimination by landlords. In 2019, she was one of the co-founders of a new progressive caucus within the Illinois House of Representatives.