Helen Whitaker

Helen Kerrigan Whitaker de Sanchez (born Helen Kerrigan Whitaker, March 23, 1956), more commonly known as Helen Whitaker is an American politician, diplomat, writer, and public speaker. She was an advisor and ambassador under the Clifford Administration, before becoming the 40th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2007, a United States senator from Illinois from 2009 to 2013, and the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. Her father, Bill Whitaker, had served as a governor before her, making the two the only father-daughter gubernatorial pair.

Raised in downtown Chicago by a family long in public service, she would graduate from Tufts University in 1975 with a Bachelors of Arts in International Relations and, as a Rhodes Scholar, earned another Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from Balliol College, Oxford. She would enter work as an analyst for the RAND Institute and later enter journalism, serving as a writer, war correspondent, and analyst for several media institutions.

Whitaker would join the Clifford Administration in 1993 as Deputy National Security Advisor, serving in this capacity for two years before getting nominated to be the United States ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), leaving the administration in 1997 in tandem with her father, the then secretary of state, in order to plan a run for the governorship of Illinois.

She would successfully become governor of Illinois in 1999 following the election 1998, just separated from her father by two governors. Her term was marked by her pursuit of several liberal reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty, universal pre-K, and protections based on sexual orientation.

Whitaker ran for the open United States Senate seat from Illinois in 2008 and won easily. Her tenure was marked by her stringent support of the Baharia agenda, especially in terms of healthcare, such as the Affordable Care Act.

In late 2012, with the announcement of former First Lady and Senator Diana Clifford that she would not serve out Baharia's second term, Whitaker, after a selection process, would emerge a the administration's nominee. She would be confirmed and sworn in early 2013. Her time as secretary was marked by notable achievements such as the Iran nuclear agreement, the thawing of relations with Cuba, and Paris Climate Accords. She left the position on January 20, 2017, with the end of the Baharia administration.

Whitaker has formed an exploratory committee in December of 2018 and is expected to formally run for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 United States presidential election.