Susana Mendoza facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Susana Mendoza
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2018 portrait
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| 10th Comptroller of Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office December 5, 2016 |
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| Governor | Bruce Rauner JB Pritzker |
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| Preceded by | Leslie Munger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City Clerk of Chicago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office May 16, 2011 – December 5, 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Miguel del Valle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Anna Valencia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 1st district |
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| In office January 10, 2001 – May 16, 2011 |
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| Preceded by | Sonia Silva | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Dena Carli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | May 13, 1972 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
David Szostak
(m. 2011) |
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| Education | Truman State University (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Association football career
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Susana A. Mendoza (born May 13, 1972) is an American politician. She is the 10th and current Comptroller of Illinois. She started this job on December 5, 2016. Before that, she was the City Clerk of Chicago from 2011 to 2016. Mendoza is a member of the Democratic Party. She was the first Latina woman to be elected as Illinois Comptroller. She is also the highest-ranking Hispanic elected official in Illinois. In 2022, Mendoza received the most votes of any state official in Illinois.
Mendoza was first elected as an Illinois State Representative in 2000. She served six terms in that role. In February 2011, she became the City Clerk of Chicago. She was the first woman to hold this important position. She was elected City Clerk twice and served for five years. After that, she successfully ran for Illinois Comptroller in 2016. Mendoza also ran for mayor of Chicago in 2019 but did not win.
In July 2025, Mendoza announced that she would not run for re-election in 2026.
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Early Life and Education
Mendoza was born in Chicago. Her parents, Joaquin and Susana Mendoza, came from Mexico in the 1960s. When she was a child, her family moved from their Little Village neighborhood to Woodridge and then to Bolingbrook, Illinois. They moved because of violence in their old neighborhood.
High School and College Years
Mendoza finished high school at Bolingbrook High School in 1990. She was a great soccer player there, earning special honors. She then went to Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University). She received a scholarship for both soccer and academics. In 1994, she graduated with a degree in Business Administration. During her college soccer career, she played in 68 games and scored 10 goals. She also helped her team score 10 other goals.
After college, Mendoza moved back to Chicago's Little Village neighborhood with her family. She worked full-time in hotels and then at an advertising company. In her free time, she started helping out in her community. This was the beginning of her involvement in Chicago politics.
Political Career
State Representative (2001–2011)
In 1998, Mendoza first ran for a political office in her district. She lost that election. In 2000, she ran again to become an Illinois State Representative. This time, she won. At 28 years old, she was the youngest person in the Illinois General Assembly.
During her time as a state representative, Mendoza led important committees. She helped create the first group for Latino lawmakers in Illinois. She also helped pass a law to give school children breakfast.
Mendoza traveled to other countries as a delegate. In 2002, she visited Uganda and Tanzania in Africa. In 2004, the State Department chose her to represent the Democratic Party in Brazil. In 2010, she was part of a group that watched the elections in Baghdad, Iraq.
City Clerk of Chicago (2011–2016)
Mendoza made history as the first woman to be the City Clerk in Chicago. As City Clerk, she used technology to make city services better. For example, she created an online system for documents. She also made it possible to buy city vehicle stickers all year round. This saved the city about $4 million each year.
She also started a new rule that stopped Chicago pet stores from selling dogs, cats, or rabbits. They could only get these animals from humane shelters or animal rescues. This helped protect animals.
Illinois Comptroller (2016–present)
Mendoza became the Illinois Comptroller in December 2016. Since then, she has worked to make Illinois' finances more open and clear. She also focused on reducing the state's large amount of unpaid bills.
When she started, the state had $16.7 billion in unpaid bills. By April 2021, she had reduced this to $3.5 billion. This helped the state's financial health improve. It also led to nine credit rating upgrades for Illinois.
In her first year, Mendoza pushed for the Debt Transparency Act. This law requires state agencies to report their debts every month. Even though the governor did not approve it at first, the law passed with strong support.
She also supported other laws to make government more open. These laws required governors to list all employees and to include late payment fees in their budget plans. They also made lenders to state vendors share who owns them.
Mendoza was re-elected as comptroller in 2018. She won with almost 60% of the votes. In 2020, she created a website that showed how Illinois spent federal COVID-19 relief money. Many newspapers praised this and suggested other states do the same.
In July 2025, Mendoza announced that she would not run for re-election in 2026.
Running for Chicago Mayor (2019)
On November 2, 2018, a video showed Mendoza planning to run for Mayor of Chicago in 2019. She officially announced her candidacy on November 14. She wanted to become the next mayor after Rahm Emanuel.
Another candidate, Toni Preckwinkle, questioned if Mendoza had enough valid signatures to be on the ballot. However, after checking, Preckwinkle dropped her challenge. She admitted Mendoza had enough signatures.
Early in her campaign, Mendoza was one of the top candidates. She was doing well in polls and raising a lot of money. But by January 2019, her support in polls started to change.
Mendoza received the most support from Hispanic voters in the first round of voting. However, not many Hispanic voters turned out to vote.
Mendoza finished fifth in the primary election. She received 9.05% of the votes and did not move on to the next round. On March 23, 2019, she supported Lori Lightfoot for mayor in the runoff election.
Personal Life
In December 2011, Mendoza married David Szostak. They went to Bolingbrook High School together. In 2012, their son was born.
She is also on the board of advisors for Let America Vote. This group works to stop things that make it harder for people to vote.
Images for kids
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2018 portrait
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Mendoza was the first woman elected City Clerk in Chicago.
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Mayoral candidates at a forum in December 2018; L–R: Paul Vallas, Willie Wilson, Mendoza, Gerry McCarthy, Toni Preckwinkle, Amara Enyia, La Shawn Ford, and Lori Lightfoot
