Jeanne M. Ives (née Remmes, born October 4, 1964) is an American politician. A Republican, she is a former member of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 42nd district. She has run for governor of Illinois, and for U.S. Representative for Illinois's 6th congressional district.
Ives served three terms in the Illinois House, from 2013 to 2018. She ran in the Republican primary in the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election, narrowly losing to incumbent Governor Bruce Rauner.
Ives was a candidate in the 2020 election for U.S. House in Illinois's 6th congressional district. On March 17, she won the Republican primary against surgeon Jay Kinzler, receiving over 70 percent of the vote. In the November 3 election, she received about 45 percent of the vote, losing to the incumbent, Democrat Sean Casten.
As of November 26, 2022, Jeanne Ives is a member of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee representing Republicans residing in Illinois's 3rd congressional district.
Early life and career
Ives is the third oldest of six children of William H. Remmes and Geraldine Remmes. She graduated from Vermillion High School in South Dakota in 1983. She attended the United States Military Academy and served as an officer in the United States Army. Later, Ives served on the Wheaton City Council.
Illinois House of Representatives
Ives was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2012.
Ives said on a 2017 radio show, "My best work is actually getting traction on killing legislation that is bad ... which is what my role is as a member of both first the super minority and then the minority." Five of Ives' 134 bills had become law , according to the Illinois General Assembly records.
Abortion
Ives has said she made her decision to challenge Governor Bruce Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary after Rauner signed HB-40 into law, which ensures that abortion remains legal in Illinois even though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, while also enabling Medicaid and state-employee health insurance to pay for abortions, in September 2017.
Education
When she ran for governor, Ives advocated consolidating school districts in Illinois to save money. She pointed out that Florida (which has a population similar to Illinois) has 100 districts, while Illinois has 852 districts.
In 2015, it was disclosed that the College of DuPage, a community college and the second largest institution of higher learning in Illinois, had decided to pay its president, Robert Breuder, $763,000 to leave his position three years early. Ives sponsored legislation (HB 3593) that prohibited college boards from giving departing presidents more than one year's salary and benefits, as well as limiting standard contracts to four years and requiring public notice. House Democrats narrowed the scope of the bill to community colleges, and it was passed by the legislature. The following year, HB 3593 was replicated and applied to all Illinois institutions of higher education.
Immigration
Ives has called for Illinois' TRUST Act, signed into law in August 2017, to be repealed, saying it creates a "sanctuary state", something that Politifact Illinois said was false.
LGBT politics
In March 2013, Ives said in an interview that same-sex marriages are a "completely disordered relationship" and said LGBT people were trying to "weasel their way" into acceptability. Ives said that the concept of marriage as between one man and one woman "cannot be legislated away or redefined." When a law authorizing gay marriage passed the Illinois General Assembly, in November 2013, Ives said, "The fact is that this bill is the worst in the U.S. for protecting religious liberty."
In 2014, Ives joined the majority of her colleagues in the House in rejecting a ban on gay conversion therapy. Illinois banned gay conversion therapy for LGBT youths in 2015.
In March 2016, a Chicago man was arrested for a felony after making two threatening phone calls to Ives over her views on same-sex marriage. The man was found guilty in July 2016 of two counts of threatening a public official, a class 3 felony.
Ives opposed a 2017 bill that would make it easier for transgender people to change their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity. On a radio show, she called transgender rights "junk science."
Ives opposes adoption by gay couples in Illinois.