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Be a Fundraiser in Your Community
Host a fundraiser or house party for Joe Serra.
Who Is Joe Serra
My name is Joe Serra and I am a Democrat running for the Illinois House of Representatives in District 50. I'm a life-long fighter for what is good and what is right, and I want to continue that fight in the State House.
I Live and work in one of the towns that reside along the banks of the beautiful Fox River. I've Lived in the Fox River Valley with my wife of 17 years and my six children for most of my life. Geneva has been our home for 8 years.
I was born on the South Side of Chicago. When I was 10, my family moved to Saint Charles, Illinois. Back then, Saint Charles was still a farming community, a lush, beautiful country setting for a child to explore. There were farms all around us, corn and soybean fields as far as you could see. Most of my friends were farmers, working the same family farms that their great-great-grandfathers had carved out of the wilderness. Those farms are gone now, and the fields have been filled with homes, shopping malls and roads.
I spent my summers on a farm in Kentucky with family friends, learning to ride horses, work with cattle, grow tobacco, bale hay – learning farm life. It was an incomparable, unforgettable experience, the most rewarding and wonderful time of my youth.
In high school, I was on the wrestling team and track team (pole vault). I was recruited to join the swim team in 1979, my senior year. Saint Charles High School won their first state swimming title that year. I’am still very proud to have been part of that team.
After graduating high school, I went to the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. I then left college for a year to get my bearings, and to work. In 1981 I started attending classes at Illinois College in Jacksonville, a distinguished college with an excellent record of achievement. I.C.’s alumni include William Jennings Bryan and John Wesley Powell. I joined the Phi Alpha literary society, a body that boasts Abraham Lincoln among its many past members. Phi Alpha is thought to have sponsored debates between Lincoln and Douglas.
I was very active on campus and was elected to the student government several years running. In 1986, the year I graduated, I was elected Senior Class Vice President. So electoral politics is not an entirely new field for me.
I've spent most of my career in sales and sales engineering in the telecommunications industry. I've worked for Ameritech, AT&T, and the last company I worked for reorganized everyone in the company. I was out of work for over a year and finally had to give up looking for a job in my area of expertise.
I met my wife, Janet, in college. Janet is from Central Illinois, Normal to be exact. She supports me no matter what the endeavor, as I support her. We’ve been married for 17 years and have six wonderful children ranging in age from 15 to 5. They are an absolute joy. My family is what I am most proud of.
In recent election cycles, I have been very vocal about the lack of Democratic candidates at the county, district and state levels. Frustrated with the direction our country is heading, I decided it was time for me to put my thoughts and ideals into action. There are many issues which I think need to come to the forefront of the American debate. Some of the issues I'm tackling: poverty in Illinois, civil liberties, the Illinois economy, suburban sprawl, managed and sustainable growth.
I have always been a proud liberal, always on the side of the underdog. I refuse to believe being liberal is something to apologize for.
I remember race riots in Chicago. I remember the life and death of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, one of my personal heroes. What he did was good for all Americans.
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