On the Issues

As a prosecutor and a legislator, Kwame Raoul built a reputation for taking the lead in defending the rights of Illinois families. Kwame’s commitment to Democratic values led his fellow attorneys general to elect him to serve as their Co-Chair and guide their joint efforts through the second Trump administration. Please explore the topics below to learn more about Kwame and why he’s the best choice for attorney general.

FIGHTING CRIME IN OUR COMMUNITIES

As the state’s chief legal and law enforcement officer, Kwame works in a bipartisan manner with prosecutors and police chiefs across Illinois to fight crime and develop criminal justice policy.

Kwame partners with federal and local law enforcement to prosecute crimes of murder, assault, sexual violence, and gun trafficking.

Kwame created the state’s first Organized Retail Crime Task Force with law enforcement partners to investigate smash-and-grab crimes. Criminal networks tied to drug trafficking, human trafficking, and other illegal activities are creating these organized retail crime rings that Kwame has cracked down on. His task force has recovered millions of dollars worth of stolen merchandise. 

To fight the prevalence of gun violence, Kwame works in partnership with the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center to conduct trainings to prevent mass shooting threats in schools, places of worship, and other public places. Kwame also sued to revoke the license of a rogue gun manufacturer that produced cheap guns criminals use in carjackings and other crimes. Kwame is committed to reducing the number of illegal guns on our streets as he created a state-of-the-art gun tracing database, Crime Gun Connect, for Illinois law enforcement. Kwame’s dedication to reducing gun violence is unwavering as he continues to defend Illinois’ assault weapons ban in the courts.

Kwame also pushed for stronger federal regulation of so-called “ghost” guns that criminals, carjackers, and domestic abusers prohibited from purchasing a gun can access without important safety measures. Kwame also holds gun manufacturers accountable, suing to revoke the license of rogue gun makers that produce cheap guns criminals use in carjackings and other crimes.

As a state senator, Kwame sponsored tougher penalties for child pornography, updated the state’s law against cyberstalking, strengthened penalties against gun traffickers and repeat gun offenders, and created sentencing guidelines that help keep violent criminals off the street and hold adults responsible for gun crimes committed by minors. He successfully pushed for common sense gun laws that expanded background checks, required gun owners to report lost or stolen guns, and kept guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.

 

ADVOCATING FOR WOMEN

Kwame is a national leader in the fight for women’s equality to ensure the Equal Rights Amendment is recognized as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. During his Senate career, Kwame proudly co-sponsored Illinois’ ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Equal Pay Act to combat wage discrimination based on wage history.

Throughout his career, Kwame has worked to protect a woman’s right to access health care, believing a woman should make her own decisions about her family and her health. When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Kwame traveled to Washington, D.C. to plan a renewed fight for reproductive rights with then-Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic attorneys general. Kwame also issued a “Know Your Reproductive Rights” guide confirming protected access to abortion in Illinois and providing tips for safeguarding personal information when seeking reproductive care. Since then, Kwame has led the Illinois legislature to enact laws that expand and protect comprehensive access to reproductive health care, including emergency and medication abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility treatment. 

Kwame played a key role in the enactment of the Illinois Patient and Provider Protection Act, which legally protects patients and providers who access and supply health care in Illinois. When out-of-state far-right groups demanded that Illinois grant them access to private records of patients receiving legal reproductive healthcare in Illinois, Kwame refused to allow this breach of privacy and successfully defended private healthcare information. Right now, Kwame is in the courts defending Illinoisans’ insurance coverage of abortion and the right to emergency care – even if their providers have moral objections to their chosen treatment. Kwame is committed to protecting reproductive freedom for all.

In the State Senate, Kwame worked to expand Medicaid in Illinois, guarantee coverage of birth control and mammograms, and establish comprehensive, medically informed sex education in schools. Kwame also co-sponsored the law that ensures women are given information about how to access health care even when their providers have moral objections to furnishing the treatment they choose.

SUPPORTING SURVIVORS

Kwame is committed to helping reduce the long-lasting effects of violence and providing support to survivors and their loved ones. Through Kwame’s Crime Victims Services Division, he has advanced programs and services for survivors of violent crime and backs Illinois providers that offer trauma-informed services. He improved the Illinois Crime Victims Compensation Program and increased funding for the Violent Crime Victims Assistance Program to provide increased financial support to victims and witnesses of violent crime.

Protecting survivors of sexual assault is also a top priority for Kwame. His office ensures sexually violent predators are behind bars and is committed to keeping our communities safe. Kwame also strengthened protections for survivors through the Illinois Address Confidentiality Program, helping them create and maintain a safety plan.

Kwame supported the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights to ensure survivors are treated with respect and given the information and services they deserve. He updated the Workplace Violence Protection Act to strengthen protections for those threatened at work by their abusers and led efforts to shield domestic violence survivors from liability if they terminate their leases early to escape unsafe living arrangements.

PROTECTING CHILDREN

As a father, Kwame understands the importance of protecting children. He leads the Illinois Crimes Against Children Task Force that investigates and prosecutes predators in communities across the state for preying on children online. He also directed an investigation of Illinois Catholic clergies that revealed nearly 2,000 cases of sexual assault against children and released a comprehensive report that unveiled decades-long coverups and repeated abuses.

While Kwame fights for sweeping gun safety reform, he trains teachers, administrators, and parents on how to avoid mass shooting incidents in schools. He also provides trainings and support in communities across Illinois for parents, caregivers, schools, and children to prevent online bullying and help promote safe online behavior. Kwame led a bipartisan coalition of 40 other attorneys general to demand Meta review its user protections to shield vulnerable, young users.

Kwame is committed to curbing the youth vaping epidemic. In a joint bipartisan lawsuit other 9 other attorneys general, Kwame sued Posh for marketing harmful nicotine products to minors and urged the Food and Drug Administration to take urgent action against Posh in their continued examination of youth vaping.

Partnering with product safety advocates, Kwame also works to ensure children’s products and toys are safe and alert parents and caregivers of dangerous and harmful toys and products in their homes.

FIGHTING FOR AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE

Ensuring that every Illinois resident has access to affordable health care is particularly important for Kwame as a cancer survivor. Kwame benefitted from early detection and excellent medical care, solidifying his commitment to protect and defend everyone’s right to access care and build a healthy future.

Kwame is also grounded by the work of his father, a community physician who spent 30 years on Chicago’s south side caring for patients, regardless of their ability to pay. His father’s dedication to providing care to all patients instilled in him the belief that healthcare is a right for all of us not a privilege for the few.

Kwame led Democratic attorneys general in their efforts to protect access to the Affordable Care Act’s preventative care provision in the face of repeated Republican attacks. Kwame is actively fighting in court against far-right attempts to block access to reproductive care, including defending Illinoisans’ insurance coverage of abortion and the right to emergency care – even if their providers have moral objections to their chosen treatment.

Under the new Trump administration, Kwame has doubled down on protecting federal funding for gender-affirming care. Recognizing that gender-affirming care is necessary and life-saving care, Kwame continues to protect state laws that ensure Illinoisans have access to gender-affirming health services, including medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical care. He is prepared to take legal action if the administration takes further steps to block federal funding to organizations providing healthcare services.

As prescription drug addiction has grown into a nationwide epidemic, Kwame filed and won lawsuits that held drug manufacturers accountable for peddling opioids and brought billions of dollars in relief for Illinois communities that have felt the devastating impacts of opioid addiction.

While serving as an Illinois State Senator, Kwame co-sponsored the bill that enabled Illinois’ early adoption of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. He also passed legislation to expand the availability of drug treatment facilities, cancer treatment centers, and HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Recognizing the severity of the opioid epidemic, he sponsored legislation establishing penalties for the manufacture and sale of fentanyl, a substance many times more dangerous and addictive than conventional opioids. He led the way in banning new synthetic drugs and preventing heroin manufacturers and dealers from going on probation instead of serving prison sentences.

 

PROTECTING VOTING RIGHTS

Together with state attorneys general across the country, Kwame defends voting rights and attacks far-right discriminatory laws that disenfranchise communities of color. 

Kwame urged the Supreme Court to reaffirm states’ rights to redraw their legislative maps to ensure their citizens have equal voting opportunities. During the November 2024 Presidential election, Kwame sent teams of lawyers to monitor Illinois polls and ensure that folks could exercise their right to vote.

Kwame helps oversee and investigate instances of voter fraud during elections and advocates for Illinois’ strong voter protection laws to ensure all eligible voters are allowed to register and cast a ballot. 

As a senator, Kwame sponsored the Illinois Voting Rights Act as well as a constitutional amendment prohibiting discrimination against eligible voters based on their race, sex, income, national origin, religion, and sexual orientation.

STANDING WITH WORKERS

Kwame has a long history of championing the rights of working families and organized labor. Throughout his career, Kwame has fought to enforce labor laws, defend working families, and protect workers’ rights to organize and engage in collective bargaining.

Despite opposition from the Trump administration, Kwame is leading his fellow attorneys general in a lawsuit to get fired federal employees their jobs back. Many of the President’s illegal firings came without cause or warning, leaving tens of thousands of federal workers and their families struggling to pay rent, buy groceries, and cover other vital household costs. Kwame’s commitment to Illinois federal workers is unshakeable.

Kwame established a Worker Protection Unit in his office that prosecutes violations of worker protection laws and leads a statewide task force to better protect workers’ rights and prevent discrimination, wage theft, misclassification, and other unlawful practices affecting Illinois workers. In his tenure as Attorney General, Kwame secured millions of dollars in owed wages for Illinois workers. He landed a $25 million settlement with GrubHub following an investigation into their alleged deceptive business practices that harmed customers, delivery drivers, and restaurants–and that was just one example.

Kwame believes that no one who works a full-time job should live in poverty. He was a strong advocate for raising the minimum wage to help working families across Illinois and fought for wage security and health insurance for caretakers who work with older Illinoisans.