Deb Mell

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title: "Deb Mell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-lesbian-politicians", "lgbtq-state-legislators-in-illinois", "women-state-legislators-in-illinois", "democratic-party-members-of-the-illinois-house-of-representatives", "chicago-city-council-members", "1968-births", "living-people", "cornell-college-alumni", "women-city-councillors-in-illinois", "american-lgbtq-city-council-members", "california-culinary-academy-alumni", "21st-century-members-of-the-illinois-general-assembly", "21st-century-american-women-politicians", "chicago-city-council-members-appointed-by-rahm-emanuel"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deb_Mell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
image	Deb Mell.png
caption	Mell in 2014
office	Member of the Chicago City Council from the 33rd ward
term_start	July 24, 2013
term_end	May 20, 2019
preceded	Richard Mell
successor	Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez
state_house1	Illinois
district1	40th
term_start1	January 14, 2009
term_end1	July 24, 2013
preceded1	Rich Bradley
successor1	Jaime Andrade Jr.
birth_date
birth_place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
party	Democratic
spouse
residence	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
alma_mater	Cornell College
relatives	Patricia (sister)
Rod Blagojevich (brother-in-law)
parents	Richard Mell
Marge Mell
website	debmell.org
::

| image = Deb Mell.png | caption = Mell in 2014 | office = Member of the Chicago City Council from the 33rd ward | term_start = July 24, 2013 | term_end = May 20, 2019 | preceded = Richard Mell | successor = Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez | state_house1 = Illinois | district1 = 40th | term_start1 = January 14, 2009 | term_end1 = July 24, 2013 | preceded1 = Rich Bradley | successor1 = Jaime Andrade Jr. | birth_date = | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | birthname = | party = Democratic | spouse = | children = | residence = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | alma_mater = Cornell College | relatives = Patricia (sister) Rod Blagojevich (brother-in-law) | parents = Richard Mell Marge Mell | profession = | religion = | website = debmell.org Deborah L. "Deb" Mell (born July 30, 1968) is an American politician from Chicago. She is a Democrat and was formerly a member of the Chicago City Council, representing the 33rd ward. She previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2009 to 2013.

Early life, education and career

Mell is the daughter of long-time Alderman Richard Mell. Her sister, former Illinois First Lady Patti, is married to former Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Mell was educated in Chicago, at St John Berchman's Elementary School and St Scholastica High School. She then attended Cornell College with a dual major in political science and history, before earning a culinary arts degree from California Culinary Academy.

Mell returned to Chicago in 2000 and began working at Christy Webber Landscape, Chicago's largest landscaping company owned by prominent lesbian Christy Webber.

Mell was arrested in 2004 while protesting her inability to get a same-sex marriage license from the Cook County clerk's office.

In politics

State legislature

The 40th district, located on Chicago's northwest side, was represented by Rep. Rich Bradley prior to 2008. Bradley was pressured to not seek re-election in 2008 by Ald. Richard Mell after Deb Mell announced her intention to run for the seat, choosing instead to challenge Sen. Iris Martinez for a seat in the Illinois Senate. With the help of her father and of Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Joseph Berrios, Mell ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for the seat in the overwhelming Democratic 40th district. Mell's campaign had the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. She won 75% of the vote in the general election of November 4, 2008; her opponents, Republican Christine Nere-Foss and Green Party candidate Heather Benno, garnered 15% and 10% respectively.

On January 14, 2009, in one of her first votes in the Illinois House of Representatives, Mell cast the lone vote opposed to impeaching her brother-in-law, then-Governor Rod Blagojevich. This was the second time the House had voted to impeach Blagojevich, and the tally was 117–1.

In November 2008, Mell expressed interest in running in the special election to replace Rahm Emanuel, who would be resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives to serve as President Obama's White House Chief of Staff. Several weeks later, she withdrew from the race.

City council

In July 2013, Alderman Richard Mell, Deb Mell's father, retired from the city council after nearly 40 years. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was charged with appointing his successor and settled on Deb Mell. The appointment was announced on July 24 and confirmed by the city council later that day.

A member of the city council's Committee on Housing and Real Estate, Mell has been criticized by local activists for her financial ties to real estate developers and her involvement in allowing a developer to evict residents of her ward from their homes.

Mell's tenure in office ended after losing her 2019 reelection bid. After placing second in the general election round of the 2019 Chicago municipal election, Mell was narrowly defeated in a runoff by Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez.

In the runoff of the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, which coincided with her aldermanic runoff, Mell endorsed Lori Lightfoot. This came despite Lightfoot having, in the first round of Mell's aldermanic reelection campaign, endorsed one of her opponents (Katie Sieracki).

Personal life

Mell is openly lesbian. She was married to Christin Baker from 2011 to 2014. She was one of four openly LGBT members of the Illinois General Assembly, along with Reps. Greg Harris and Kelly Cassidy, both Democrats from Chicago, and Sam Yingling a Democrat from Round Lake Beach, Illinois, in suburban Chicago.

Mell served on former Mayor Richard M. Daley's Advisory Council for Human Relations and is active in numerous LGBT activist groups. She has received a National Organization for Women award for her activism, as well as the Howard Brown Cornerstone Award for community excellence.

References

References

1. "About Deb".
2. (2008-10-29). "Deb Mell: Breaking New Ground".
3. Patterson, Steve. (2004-03-05). "Gays rip denial of marriage licenses; Gov's sister-in-law lone protester to be arrested".
4. (24 January 2008). "Mell Family Politics".
5. (30 January 2008). "Election 2008: Joseph Berrios Strikes Back".
6. "Deborah Mell".
7. (2008-10-25). "For the Illinois House".
8. (2009-01-14). "House votes to impeach Blagojevich again". Tribune Company.
9. "Emanuel departure starts race for vacant seat".
10. Belluck, Pam. (2008-12-11). "Illinois First Lady Faces Scrutiny".
11. (2013-07-25). "Deb Mell faces skepticism about family ties: New alderman vows to win over critics with hard work". [[Chicago Tribune]].
12. "Campaign donors come first: The Silver Properties story". Chicago Working Families.
13. (4 December 2017). "Latino Residents Are Being Displaced From Transit-Friendly Buildings in Albany Park". StreetsBlog Chicago.
14. (March 25, 2019). "903 - Alderman Deb Mell endorses Lori Lightfoot in mayoral race - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News Archive". Windycitymediagroup.com.
15. (30 January 2019). "Press Release - Lightfoot announces aldermanic endorsements • Lightfoot for Chicago Mayor 2019". Lightfoot for Chicago Mayor 2019.
16. (2007-06-27). "Mell Runs for Rep".
17. (2010-04-27). "Iowa's nice, but Mell wants to marry partner in Illinois".
18. (2014-07-03). "Deb Mell says her same-sex marriage is over: 'Divorce is painful'".

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