State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, has announced she will seek the state Comptroller’s Office being vacated by Susana Mendoza.    

Kifowit, a former two-term Aurora alderwoman and seven-term state representative is well known throughout the far west suburbs and a respected political voice in an area that includes Aurora, Oswego, Naperville, and Montgomery. 

Kifowit joins a Democratic primary field that includes fellow state Rep. Margaret Croke of Chicago, Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim, and 25th District state Sen. Karina Villa from far west suburban West Chicago in DuPage and Kane counties. Champaign County Auditor George Danos is also reportedly considering running in the Democratic comptroller primary but has not yet announced. 

Representative Kifowit touted her experience in finance in her campaign announcement. After her honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, she worked her way through college, eventually earning a master’s in public administration focused on organizational development and government finance. She has worked in private banking at First National Bank of Chicago and as a registered financial adviser with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. 

Kifowit said her record in public service “speaks for itself,” and that she “has consistently pushed for balanced budgets, worked to cut unnecessary spending during lean years, and championed fiscal responsibility over partisan politics.” 

She said she “has never hesitated to raise concerns — whether with members of her own party or across the aisle — when transparency or fairness was at stake.” 

The comptroller’s office was created by the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention to replace the old Office of the Auditor of Public Accounts. It provides fiscal transparency through oversight of the fiscal accounting for the state. Besides maintaining the state’s central fiscal accounts, the office provides monthly debt transparency reports to the General Assembly and produces an annual financial report “summarizing the revenues, expenditures, fund balance and debt of units of local government throughout the state.”   

Prior to Kifowit’s entry into the race, Cook County Democratic Party township committeemen and committeewomen endorsed Croke following a two-day slating process in July. That’s a major advantage for Croke, as the county represented more than 40 percent of the Democratic vote in the last statewide elections. In 2022, Governor J.B. Pritzker received just under 45 percent of his vote from Cook County, and Mendoza got 78,000 more votes than Pritzker.  

But Kifowit’s entry into a race that is expected to be among the most closely watched of the statewide primaries next March could well change the dynamics of the contest, giving voters another option in a list of statewide primary candidates who are nearly all from Cook County.  

Croke, from Chicago, is white. Kim is of Asian heritage, and Villa is Hispanic. Kifowit, who represents parts of Kane, Kendall and DuPage counties, joins Kim as the two candidates with working experience in finance.  

The Cook County slating process in July generated some controversy among powerful Democratic leaders. House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch backed Croke, who has close ties to Pritzker.  

State Senate President Don Harmon, who backed Villa, told Capitol News Illinois that he was concerned that the statewide slate chosen by Cook County officials had no candidate from outside Cook County, and that it was all Caucasian.  

“We have a slate that does not have any representation from the Latino Caucus, no representation from the Asian Caucus, no one from outside the city of Chicago,” Harmon said. “I think this is the problem.” 

Money will play a big role in the comptroller race, with candidates needing to introduce themselves to large populations in parts of the state where they are not known.  

Croke, who has worked for Pritzker as a campaign volunteer and in the governor’s office, most likely can count on Pritzker’s financial support, and has shown herself to be a strong fundraiser.  

Kifowit will have to find ways to generate adequate funds to run statewide. She had $97,375 on hand as of June 30. Since July 1 she has raised another $36,500. 

Kifowit’s decision also makes the 2026 contest between House Democrats and Republicans a bit more expensive. The 84th House seat, which will be open for the first time in 14 years, is in a solid blue district that Kifowit won by a minimum of 16 percent, and not less than 25 percent since 2016. She ran unopposed in 2024.  

However, even with an established and popular candidate in 2022, the Democratic Party of Illinois spent $100,000 on political mailings over the final five weeks of the campaign. With no Democratic incumbent in 2026, DPI and Democrats for the Illinois House can be expected to expend considerably more resources to make sure they retain the seat.