Aaron Goldstein

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Aaron Goldstein

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 20, 2018

Education

High school

Lane Technical High School

Bachelor's

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Law

University of Iowa College of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Aaron Goldstein (Democratic Party) ran for election for Attorney General of Illinois. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 20, 2018.

Biography

Aaron Goldstein grew up and lives in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1997 and a J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2000. Goldstein's professional experience includes working as a public defender, a professor at North Park University and DePaul University College of Law, and as the founder of his own law practice, the Goldstein Firm, P.C. He serves as the 33rd ward democratic committeeman at the Cook County Democratic Party.

Campaign themes

2014

Goldstein's campaign website highlighted the following campaign issues:

Democracy in Action

• Excerpt: "Our political system has for too long been run by the powerful few. Powerbrokers rule areas of our state and then designate their successors. This is not democracy and it hurts our community. When an individual is “appointed” a position when his only qualification is his connection to the local royalty, our community suffers. That representative is not responsive to the people or even to his own conscience. Rather, he is beholden to the power brokers whom he owes his job to. I am an independent Democrat who will only be beholden to the people and courageous enough to stand up to powerbrokers. As an attorney, I have been a fighter for those who had fallen on hard times. In these hard times I will be the fighter for our District."

Education

• Excerpt: "I am a strong believer in public education. We need to stop demonizing public schools and give our teachers and students the support they deserve. The way schools are funded is unfair and we need to change school funding so all public schools are funded equally. Public education should be our number one funding priority."

Pension Reform

• Excerpt: "The recent pension bill was unfair and unconstitutional. This crisis was created by Springfield over the past several decades. It is unfair and unconstitutional to now put the burden on public employees who have contributed to their pension for their entire career. There is revenue out there without raising taxes on ordinary taxpayers. Changing to a progressive income tax and closing corporate loopholes can fill the pension void as well as create a stream of revenue for our state."

Economic Growth

• Excerpt: "Without enough jobs in our state, we will continue to deteriorate. We need to invest in our people and in our infrastructure. We need a continuing jobs program to improve our infrastructure and our environment."

Environmental Protection

• Excerpt: "We need to invest in technology that does not damage our state’s precious resources. We need to invest in wind and solar technology and not engage in a race to the bottom for dirty and destructive energy resources. This can be done in a just way so that we do not lose good-paying jobs for all of Illinois."

Protecting Our Neighborhoods and Reforming Our Criminal Justice System

• Excerpt: "Our criminal justice system is broken. We keep incarcerating more and more people and we are less safe. We need to be tough on violent crime but wise enough to know that prison is not the answer for every crime. We need to support our police officers and put them in the best position to protect our community. If we stop dedicating millions of dollars towards a losing drug war we will be able to drastically reduce violence while creating revenue for the state."

Elections

2018

See also: Illinois Attorney General election, 2018

General election

General election for Attorney General of Illinois

Kwame Raoul defeated Erika Harold and Bubba Harsy in the general election for Attorney General of Illinois on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kwame Raoul (D)	54.7	2,488,326
		Erika Harold (R)	42.7	1,944,142
		Bubba Harsy (L)	2.5	115,941

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,548,409
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Illinois

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Illinois on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kwame Raoul	30.2	390,472
		Pat Quinn	27.2	352,425
		Sharon Fairley	12.7	164,304
		Nancy Rotering	9.5	123,446
		Scott Drury	7.9	102,193
		Jesse Ruiz	5.4	70,158
		Renato Mariotti	4.0	51,902
		Aaron Goldstein	3.0	39,196

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,294,096
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Illinois

Erika Harold defeated Gary Grasso in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Illinois on March 20, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Erika Harold	59.2	389,197
		Gary Grasso	40.8	268,688

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 657,885
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2014

See also: Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for the Illinois House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 18, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was December 2, 2013. Incumbent Jaime Andrade defeated Nancy Schiavone, Aaron Goldstein, Mark Pasieka and Wendy Jo Harmston in the Democratic primary. Andrade was unchallenged in the general election. Melanie "Mel" Ferrand (D) was removed from the ballot on January 7, 2014, and Bart Goldberg (D) withdrew from the race on January 13, 2014.

Illinois House of Representatives, District 40 Democratic Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jaime Andrade Incumbent	50.3%	2,917
Nancy Schiavone	27.3%	1,585
Aaron Goldstein	10.6%	617
Wendy Jo Harmston	6.5%	376
Mark Pasieka	5.2%	303
Total Votes		5,798

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Goldstein and his wife have two daughters. During his 2018 campaign for attorney general, Goldstein and several members of his campaign were robbed at gunpoint. Their phones and cameras were taken but they were not physically harmed, according to the Chicago Tribune. Following the robbery, Goldstein's campaign manager stated, "Basically, this was a totally a [sic] random act of violence in the community. But when it happens to you, of course, you’re shooken up."

See also

• Attorney General of Illinois
• Illinois Attorney General election, 2018

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Office Facebook page
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• Campaign Twitter page
• LinkedIn page
• Biography from Project Vote Smart