Mary Beth Canty
2023 - Present
2025
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Mary Beth Canty (Democratic Party) is a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing District 54. She assumed office on January 11, 2023. Her current term ends on January 8, 2025.
Canty (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Illinois House of Representatives to represent District 54. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Mary Beth Canty lives in Arlington Heights, Illinois.[1] Canty earned a bachelor's degree in English and literary & cultural studies from the College of William & Mary in 2003 and a law degree from the University of Arizona in 2006. Her career experience includes working as an associate attorney with Litchfield Cavo LLP, the director of the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois, and a management consultant with Kenway Consulting.[2][3] Canty has been affiliated with the League of Women Voters, a local PTA, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Moms Demand Action Gun Sense, and the Arlington Heights Police Department Citizens Police Academy.[2]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Illinois House of Representatives District 54
Incumbent Mary Beth Canty defeated Michele Hunter in the general election for Illinois House of Representatives District 54 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mary Beth Canty (D) | 57.5 | 25,783 |
 | Michele Hunter (R) | 42.5 | 19,052 | |
| Total votes: 44,835 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54
Incumbent Mary Beth Canty advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mary Beth Canty | 100.0 | 7,702 |
| Total votes: 7,702 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54
Michele Hunter advanced from the Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michele Hunter | 100.0 | 3,098 |
| Total votes: 3,098 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
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Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Canty in this election.
2022
See also: Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Illinois House of Representatives District 54
Mary Beth Canty defeated Michele Hunter in the general election for Illinois House of Representatives District 54 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mary Beth Canty (D) | 59.5 | 21,750 |
| Michele Hunter (R) | 40.5 | 14,829 | |
| Total votes: 36,579 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54
Mary Beth Canty advanced from the Democratic primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mary Beth Canty | 100.0 | 8,052 |
| Total votes: 8,052 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Drew King (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54
Michele Hunter advanced from the Republican primary for Illinois House of Representatives District 54 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michele Hunter | 100.0 | 5,538 |
| Total votes: 5,538 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Canty's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mary Beth Canty did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Mary Beth Canty completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Canty's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am Mary Beth Canty, running for State Representative for the 54th District in Illinois. I have lived in Arlington Heights for thirteen years, and my husband and I have raised our two kids here. I am the daughter of biracial parents and the proud sister of a member of the LGBTQ community.
My father served as a Navy pilot (24 years of service) and my mother worked as an optician, and they both owned small businesses when I was growing up. I am a vocal and passionate advocate for my communities: I have served on my local PTA Executive Board, the League of Women Voters, and organizations within my church. In 2019, I was elected as a Trustee for the Village of Arlington Heights, where I have helped develop an affordable housing ordinance, improved Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, helped businesses navigate the pandemic through initiatives such as Arlington Alfresco, and voted for a zero percent property tax levy increase each year of my tenure while maintaining the high level of service residents have come to expect. I am proud of the work I have done in these roles, and I want to do more as State Representative.
- Public safety: As State Representative, I’ll work to protect our communities from violence by advocating for common-sense gun laws. This means closing loopholes in background check laws, banning military-style assault weapons, prohibiting the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, and strengthening our extreme risk laws to stop guns from getting into the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves or others. I would also ensure our first responders have the resources they need to keep our communities safe. That’s why, as Arlington Heights Village Trustee, I voted for budgets that protect police pensions and provide funding for personnel, training, and equipment for the Police and Fire Departments.
- Women’s rights: I will be a fierce advocate for women’s rights to control their own body and to make their own healthcare decisions. I will work to ensure access to critical health services, including reproductive health services, that are both affordable and available to residents across the state. Specifically, I support legislation that ensures access to contraception, makes abortion safe, affordable, and legal, and eliminates barriers to reproductive healthcare.
- Property Taxes: Each year that I have served as Trustee, I have voted for a zero percent tax levy increase without cuts to services for residents. Throughout the pandemic, responsible decision-making by our Board has allowed us to maintain one of the best-funded police and fire pensions in the state and invest in businesses through creative initiatives like Arlington Alfresco. I will bring this discipline and practical financial approach to state budget votes, and I will fight to keep taxes in check to enable people to afford to continue to live in our wonderful communities, while prioritizing safe streets, strong schools, and thriving local businesses.
In addition to the above issues, I am a staunch supporter of public education. I attended public schools from kindergarten through law school, and my husband and I moved to this community in part because of the strong school systems that our two children now attend. I do believe, however, that we shouldn’t be forced to choose between underfunding schools or making homeownership prohibitively expensive. I support reform to improve parity and reduce the tax-payers' burden through creative and thoughtful solutions.
Additionally, increased investment in and expanded access to vocational training is also crucial to building opportunity for all, as well as improving our economy, and I will advocate for and support programs to build such skills.
A state representative must represent the constituents of their district and put their community’s health and safety first. Crucially, this means having an open-door policy to stay attuned to the needs and desires of residents and then advocating for those issues in Springfield. This is precisely why I have knocked on the doors of over 9,000 voters - so that I can stay engaged with community members and understand and empathize with where their concerns lie. In Springfield, a representative must then work across the aisle to get policies passed. As an Arlington Heights Village Trustee, I have done this many times, when my colleagues across the aisle and I have all voted unanimously in support of efforts that best serve our communities, regardless of our politics.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Illinois scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Illinois State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 27.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Illinois House of Representatives District 54 |
Officeholder Illinois House of Representatives District 54 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Illinois General Assembly, "Representative Mary Beth Canty (D)," accessed May 11, 2023
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 7, 2022
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Mary Beth Canty," accessed May 11, 2023
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| Preceded by - |
Illinois House of Representatives District 54 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
