Illinois Rep. Marcus Evans Jr. remembers the exact moment he received the diagnosis of an illness that began when he was just 18. 

“It was July 31, 2006, at 7:17 p.m. I found out that I had cancer,” he says. It was non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which affects the immune system. 

Evans, who became NCSL’s new president at the 2025 Legislative Summit in Boston, says he managed to keep up his college studies in business administration and work on political campaigns even as his condition worsened. His treatment delayed but didn’t derail his studies; he scaled back to part-time classes while receiving chemotherapy. 

He beat cancer and gained a lasting perspective on what matters in this life.

“There’s a thousand things we can agree on, probably only 10 things we disagree on. Let’s focus on what we agree on.”

—Illinois Rep. Marcus Evans Jr., NCSL’s president for 2025-26

“I’ve always had an enthusiasm and positivity,” Evans says. “But when you have cancer, and you’re near death, and you make it through, you just value time more. It has changed me tremendously because I don’t want to miss an opportunity. I just try to maximize the moments.” 

He adds, “I’m going to live life until life is no more. You’ve got to keep moving through life’s challenges.” 

After college, Evans quickly found a place for himself in government, becoming an assistant to Todd Stroger, who was then the alderman for Chicago’s 8th Ward. In that first role, he says he didn’t have any sense of how he might want to serve—as an elected official or a staffer.

“I valued everybody being involved in politics as a part of helping us move along,” he says. “We’re all a part of the policymaking soup. Elected officials play a particular role, but I never saw elected officials as the deity of policy. I felt that everybody had a role to play.”

Evans got involved in political organizations such as the Young Democrats, and worked on campaigns registering voters, knocking on doors and installing yard signs—in addition to serving constituents through the alderman’s office. He was connecting so he could learn, but being widely known also made him a prime candidate when the party had to fill a vacant Illinois House seat in 2012. 

Evans was only 27, but party leaders put their faith in him. He won the seat in an election that fall and has represented the 33rd District ever since. 

Working Across the Aisle

From the start, Evans was in the legislative majority, which is now a supermajority. But he has always valued working across the aisle when he can, and often finds Republican co-sponsors on his bills.

“I’m a minority, right? I’m an African American male,” he says. “So, when I’m in the Statehouse and I’m a part of the majority, I believe in always respecting and appreciating the minority. When you’re a legislator, you’re trying to get the best policy. We’re not at war.” 

He says that’s why he valued NCSL’s bipartisan approach from early in his legislative career. His mentor, former Illinois Sen. Donne Trotter, told him about the group, and Evans attended his first NCSL Legislative Summit in 2013.

As president, Evans says he’ll focus on spreading the word to legislators and staff who may not realize the value NCSL brings to their unusual and challenging work.

“This job, it’s so specialized and you’ve got to go somewhere where they can help you,” Evans says. NCSL’s nonpartisan research helps legislators and their staff members tackle challenging issues, and conferences are a vital place to learn from colleagues from across the country, he says.

Inside and Outside the Statehouse

Evans has made cancer funding and research a priority at the Statehouse, where he has sponsored bills to promote equity and access to clinical trials. He also serves on advisory boards for the University of Illinois Cancer Center, the Illinois Cancer Health Equity Research Center Community and the University of Chicago’s Office of Community Engagement. 

When he isn’t at the Capitol, Evans works as a high school basketball referee—a job that informs his rallying cry for legislators to get involved with NCSL and their colleagues in other states: “I can find a sports metaphor in any situation. I would say jump in the water, get over the fear, pick up the ball, don’t be afraid to get on the field.” 

He is passionate about any effort to support the work of legislatures, which he notes is a job very few people get the opportunity to do, and one he feels immensely grateful to perform. At the Legislative Summit in Boston, Evans encouraged his fellow legislators to seek out common ground. 

“Find someone who is not like you,” he told a general session audience at the meeting. “If you’re a Democrat from New York, find an Oklahoma Republican; if you’re white, find a Black guy; if you’re a woman, find a man; if you’re from Seattle, find someone from Florida. Seek out different folks, connect with them, because we’re all so similar.” 

He added, “There’s a thousand things we can agree on, probably only 10 things we disagree on. Let’s focus on what we agree on. That’s what we do here at NCSL.” 

Kelley Griffin is a senior editor and the host and producer of NCSL’s “Across the Aisle” podcast.