PLAINFIELD, IL — Jessica Dixon Heitman, the granddaughter of late U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon, was appointed Monday to fill the Illinois House of Representatives 97th District seat left vacant by Harry Benton.
The Plainfield-area state representative resigned earlier this month after a misconduct investigation and formally withdrew his candidacy from the November election.
The district's Democratic Representative Committee unanimously voted Monday on Dixon Heitman's appointment. She was also selected as the party's nominee for the November general election, in which she'll run against Republican candidate Gabby Shanahan.
A resident of Plainfield, Dixon Heitman serves as president of communications firm Dixon/Heitman Collective. Her grandfather, Alan Dixon, was the treasurer and Secretary of State in Illinois in the '70s and went on to serve as a member of the United States Senate from 1981 to 1993.
"Jessica Dixon Heitman will be a strong, persistent, ethical, and effective advocate for the people of the 97th District," the Will County Democratic Party said in a statement. "She brings bold ideas and moral clarity to this new challenge, and we can count on her to fight for reform and help bring more accountability and transparency to our state government."
In a statement following her appointment, Dixon Heitman said residents of the 97th District to "represent them in ways that make them proud."
"As I take on this new duty, I am going to do everything I can to make sure that our district builds the reputation it deserves — as a place that values community, ethics, civility, fiscal responsibility, and justice," she said, per a report from Capitol Fax. "Going forward, my constituents can count on me to listen, to respond, and to represent them in ways that will make them proud, in Springfield and here at home."
RELATED: Rep. Harry Benton Resigns After Pressure From House Speaker
Dixon Heitman's appointment comes less than three weeks after Benton's resignation. Benton (D-Plainfield) was stripped of all eight of his committee assignments six months ago amid undisclosed allegations of misconduct. He submitted his letter of resignation July 3, a day after Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch pressured him to step down, calling his actions "patterns of conduct ... that are outrageous, unethical, and unbecoming."
Neither the House nor its speaker has shared the official reason for Benton's ousting or details of the allegations.
Dixon Heitman worked as a contract employee in Benton's office when a young female coworker detailed harassment allegations against Benton, many sexual in nature, according to the Chicago Tribune. At least one other person came forward with other harassment allegations against him this year, according to the report.
The Chicago Tribune's investigation also alleged Welch knew about the allegations against Benton for years.
In a statement following Dixon Heitman's appointment, the Illinois House Republican Organization said residents of the 97th District "get more of the same." The organization claimed the new representative voiced on social media in July 2023 that Benton "needs to go."
"Jessica Dixon Heitman has an obligation to answer the questions the people of the 97th District deserve to know," Mark Cavers, political director for the Illinois House Republican Organization, said in a statement. "If she believed Harry Benton 'needed to go,' then voters deserve to know what she knew, when she knew it, and why she didn't speak out."
Shanahan, who unsuccessfully ran against Benton in 2024 and was poised to face off with him again in November, said Dixon Heitman's appointment "does not erase months of missed representation."
"Our district needs a new kind of leadership, not just a new name on the door," she said in a statement. "The people of this district deserve a representative who shows up, listens, and delivers. That's exactly my record, and I look forward to earning their trust and their vote this November."
State Rep. Justin Cochran (D-Des Plaines) called for elected officials to publish the legislative inspector general's full report into Benton's conduct.
"Ethical elected officials police their own, and to tolerate this report remaining out of the public eye would be an unacceptable step backwards for this House, for Springfield as a whole and for Illinois," he said in a statement. "Moving forward requires rejecting the errors and omissions of the past. Release the report."
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