2026 Election Questionnaire: Victoria Onorato, Illinois House District 89

Name: Victoria Onorato

What office are you seeking: IL House Representative District 89

What is your political party?

What is your current age? 66

Occupation and employer: Retired Police Officer

What offices, if any, have you previously held? None

City: Living in Byron, IL

Campaign website: www.onoratorepdist89.com

Education: IL State Certified in Criminal & Civil Law (City of Chicago - Wright College), IL State Certified in Domestic Violence & Child Abuse (Police training certification), IL State Certified in Animal Abuse (Police training certification), IL State Certified in Hostage Barricade (Police training certification), ABA Certified Paralegal Degree (Criminal & Civil Law),

Community involvement: Involved with community groups for 25 years as a police officer, and every day I interacted with many groups and people. IAPA - Italian American Police Association - I was a board member for many years, IAET - Italian American Executive Transportation - member

Marital status/Immediate family: Married

What are your top three priorities for this district in Springfield?

Support our Constitutional 2nd Amendment right - Tax Relief - Strengthen laws to protect our constitutional 14th Amendment for parental rights from government interference.

How will you support economic growth and development in your district?

For development issues in the district, I will support what the citizens want where they live. I will stand with the people and support positive economic growth by encouraging resources for funding and grants to rebuild or start new businesses that will help communities thrive. Many communities are becoming ghost towns due to big corporations taking over, which is impeding everyday Americans from being successful in owning their own businesses.

Do you support term limits for state representatives, and if so, what limits?

I absolutely do support term limits. Senator 2 terms, Congress 2 terms and House Rep 4 terms no matter what districts they serve in. If map boundaries change, the term limits remain the same consecutively.

How will you address the state’s long-term pension obligations?

This is an issue for the Governor of IL to address. Personally I would start by demanding an AUDIT of ALL Illinois books. We must first start with transparency and accountability to see where all the money is going. It is imperative for IL to have a DOGE committee created to rebalance every dollar the American people are taxed for. It is time to eliminate waste and create balance. Until there is accountability, there is no way to address the problem. It has been this way for years and the same question is constantly asked with no clear answer from any of the politicians we’ve had in office for decades. None of our current politicians have made any progress in this area so looking forward I don’t see any new developments happening to fix this until we have an AUDIT of every Illinois expense.

How will you address property taxes and school funding reform?

I will vote NO to any property tax increases. I will vote YES for NO Property Taxes to be paid on any home that is paid for, free of mortgage and I will vote YES on for NO Property Taxes for seniors over 65 who own their homes free and clear. As for school funding reform, this has been and will always be an ongoing issue. Our children are our future. I feel that every school should offer every child the same advantages of learning no matter where they live. It should be a universal learning system across the state, with the same special disability learning stages in every school. No town or city should allow children to be at any type of disadvantage in learning. Now that every state is responsible for their own schools, it is even more important for and AUDIT to be performed in IL. The sole source of money for the school system should not rely heavily on just the home owners. It is time to make big corporations take the burden of funding for schools and the future of our children.

What is your stance on the SAFE-T Act? What changes, if any, would you support?

This law needs to be completely rescinded. It literally endangers the lives of every good law-abiding American citizen. As for the police officers wearing cameras, that was in effect already long before this law was signed, and it is a good thing for the officer to have to save his/her life from continuous false accusations. Seeing that I am a privately contracted Police Academy Instructor for the Use of Force, I can say that officers are constantly being trained with new and updated material on this matter. With every incident that takes place in an officer’s life on the streets, there will always be new situations requiring additional training. The rest of this law needs to be abolished to protect the citizens and not make them victims.

What legislation would you propose to address crime and public safety in your district?

We shouldn’t be proposing “New” Legislation because we are not even enforcing the laws we currently have. What good is “New” legislation if officers are not allowed to do their jobs in putting criminals in jail with the legislation we already have. I will support every law we have right now that will allow police officers to do their job because that is what “Public Safety” is. If we don’t have police, we don’t have public safety. What I would propose is hiring more police officers in every community in my district and support enforcing the laws we have now to the fullest extent for anyone who commits a crime against another human being or someone’s property. I propose having a separate special funding system for hiring, training and paying police officers in IL that every town or city will benefit from to keep their towns and cities safe.

What is your stance on reproductive rights in Illinois?

It’s a very personal decision that needs to be made by the individual. I stand with GOD, and my personal feelings on this matter should not be forced on anyone else.

What is your opinion of the TRUST Act (sanctuary state protections)?

I do not support a Sanctuary state or anything related to this matter.

Should the state expand Medicaid funding?

Expand it to who?

Should local governments have more authority over solar farm development in their communities?

Absolutely not. That is government overreach of personal property.

Should Illinois expand use of nuclear energy, including facilities like the Byron plant? What’s your vision for the state’s energy mix?

Seeing that I live in Byron, I have found that many people are in great support of this energy out here. The plant has been here since 1976, and it has become a part of life in this town. I personally do not have any issues with this energy. However, since IL shut down several of these same plants just 5 years ago, and they were even attempting to close the Byron plant back in 2021, before they finally renewed the contract. I think it should be up to the people if an expansion of this energy is to be considered. This is not about what my opinion is; this is about what the citizens of IL want. The citizens are the people who have to live with it and raise their children and grandchildren with it. Their voices should be the deciding factor.

What role should the state play in housing affordability?

They already have a part in housing affordability, and it’s shameful how they allow people to live. Again, this comes down to what the leaders in IL are doing right now with the money that funds housing affordability. Let’s AUDIT IL and find out, then go back to the drawing board. I have seen what housing affordability in IL looks like. Shame on IL for failing the people.

How should the state address rising energy costs from data centers? How do you balance water rights between communities and industry regarding data center development?

Why is this even a question? The Data Centers should be paying their own bills? They are owned by Big Tech Companies. These companies who are building these huge Data Centers should support the communities they are built in. They should pay for all the schools in the counties they are built in and they should also pay for the police so more officers can be hired with state of the art equipment and new police vehicles. As for the water rights. I say put a meter on the Data Center. If these companies want to take over communities, then they should pay a hefty price to do so. No more forcing the citizens to pay taxes for their schools. Let Big Tech do it.

To what level should the state fund a new stadium for the Chicago Bears?

None. The Chicago Bears are a private organization. IL should have nothing to do with it. Let the multi-billionaire NFL organization pay for it. Americans are tired of struggling every day, living paycheck to paycheck, and we are talking about the State of IL funding a new stadium? If IL has money to throw away, then it should be used for our police, schools, and housing our homeless veterans.