About Senator Garrett

State Senator Senator Garrett is currently serving her third term in the Illinois Senate (2002-present) and has recently been named Majority Caucus Whip for the 96th General Assembly by Senate President John Cullerton. She also Prior to serving in the Senate, Sen. Garrett served two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives (1998-2001). Her district includes parts of Lake and suburban Cook Counties, including all or part of the following communities: Bannockburn, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Fort Sheridan, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Highwood, Knollwood, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Mount Prospect, Niles, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, and Riverwoods.

As a community advocate, businesswoman, and respected leader, Sen. Garrett brings an outstanding record of success to the 29th District. She continues to focus on the quality-of-life issues that have been her platform for many years: more accessible health care, quality education, and well-planned community development. Sen. Garrett has always made it a priority to be highly accessible to all of her constituents. She holds regular town hall meetings to hear directly from residents about the issues that are important to them, sometimes developing legislation from the ideas that come out of these meetings. She strongly believes that our government as a whole should be open and accessible to Illinois residents.

Sen. Garrett is currently chair of the Senate Environment Committee and vice-chair of the Commerce Committee. She also serves on the Revenue, Education, Public Health Committees and the Joint Committee on Government Reform. Her priorities for 2009 and 2010 include continuing government ethics reform, and, as chair of the Environment Committee, improving the quality of our water by addressing, among other things, pharmaceutical contamination. Sen. Garrett has recently called upon the Governor and the IEPA to form a Clean Water Commission, which would be entrusted with the job of analyzing and measuring water sources across the state for traces of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals every quarter.

While the Senate is in session in Springfield during the week, Susan comes home to her district on the weekends and often reaches out to residents through forums, programs, and town hall meetings.

Susan earned her bachelor's degree from Lake Forest College. She and her husband Scott reside in Lake Forest and have two grown children, Brett and Elizabeth.

The Garrett family, 2006.