Former state Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie is resigning his north suburban seat to start a nonprofit organization promoting accessibility policy, he said Monday.
Illinois law requires General Assembly vacancies to be filled within 30 days by someone of the same party, so McConchie’s resignation will not affect the makeup of the Senate, where Democrats hold a supermajority. His replacement, to be chosen by Republican leaders in his district, will serve the remainder of McConchie’s term, which ends in January 2027.
McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, won re-election to his newly remapped seat in 2022 by fewer than 400 votes over Democrat Maria Peterson. He has held office for almost nine years.
“While I always possessed a desire to serve my country and my community, I never aspired to be an elected official, and certainly not a politician,” McConchie said in a statement Monday. “It was my friends and neighbors who asked me to step up and run for office.”
McConchie’s new organization, the Accessibility Policy Institute, will advocate for improving accessibility for disabled people “at every level — local, state, and federal,” according to a news release.
It will specifically deal with accessibility policy in employment, transportation and housing, the release said.
McConchie survived a hit-and-run accident in 2007 and uses a wheelchair.
As a senator, he supported small government and worked on bipartisan legislation including reforms to school funding. He was replaced as the chamber’s GOP leader in 2022 by Sen. John Curran of Downers Grove.
“My desire to create positive impact in the lives of others has not gone away, it’s just expanded to the most vulnerable no matter where they live across the country,” McConchie said in his statement Monday.
