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ILLINOIS - As the race to the Illinois primary heats up, comptroller candidate Holly Kim shared more about her philosophy that it’s important to help the working class.
The primary is scheduled for March 17, 2026, and Kim (D) is eager to use her background as a village trustee, township trustee, and county treasurer in the comptroller’s role. She explained that she is interested in helping the working class because she has experienced hardship herself, and she encourages Illinois residents to vote for her.
“My speciality is tangible change that people can see, feel, touch and experience,” she said. “I’m here for the people. At the end of the day, you’ll know I’ll be someone who’s honest and stands up for the people, but also that I’ll be a true fiscal watchdog in this position. Being the independently-minded person I am is my strongest advantage.”
Kim shared that she was kicked out of her parents’ home when she became pregnant as a college student. In that same timeframe, her identity was stolen and her credit was “trashed.” She said she knows the importance of programs like SNAP and LIHEAP because she utilized them herself.
“I had to work full-time while going to school part-time, juggling a kid, using Medicaid, LIHEAP, Head Start. You name it, I was on everything,” she remembered. “I do feel like the character arc for my life has been to be the protector of you and your family and your money in the way that I really wish somebody would have done for me back then.”
In the comptroller role, Kim promises to prioritize reimbursements to nonprofits and to support unions. She wants to sign an executive order protecting the prevailing wage.
She noted that she wants to digitize the comptroller’s office and “upgrade everything in the office” with a focus on cybersecurity and privacy rights. She pointed out that the comptroller’s office oversees $55 billion in taxpayer dollars and hundreds of thousands of people’s personal data, so privacy and cybersecurity are important considerations.
“It’s really important that someone who has lived through hard times understands the severity and the importance of the comptroller’s office and prioritizes those reimbursements, especially during times of government hardship,” she added.
Kim is proud of the fact that she hasn’t taken any “dark money.” Her grassroots campaign is focused on pointing out tangible changes she made in her previous roles.
As a village trustee, Kim taught people how to run for office and held protests. As a township trustee, she helped convert the office’s boardroom into a food pantry.
Kim currently serves as the county treasurer in Lake County. She believes her work is focused on helping people, and she is excited to take this next step as the primary draws nearer.
“At the end of the day, I’ve run a campaign that I can be proud of and my kids can be proud of and I can sleep at night,” she said. “But I think that's what the people want nowadays. I have tangible change that I can point to.”
With just a few days left to vote, Kim encourages people to visit her official website for more information about her platform and how to support her campaign. Though it hasn’t always been an easy road, she believes she is on the right path.
“When you have suffered, when you have really budgeted your money and lived through hard times, especially things related to money, you have that grit taste in your mouth at the end of the day, and that is your compass when you do other things in life as well. To this day, I’m still that scrappy person that had to hoof it, had to put on my pants one leg at a time and go out there and make a better life for me and my kid,” she shared. “I have that moral compass that grounds everything in my daily life. That’s really, at the end of it, something people can be proud of. That’s the kind of person I would vote for.”
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