Rod Blagojevich

Rod R. Blagojevich ( blə-GOY-ə-vitch; born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked in both the state and federal legislatures. He served as an Illinois state representative from 1993 to 1997, and the U.S. representative from Illinois's 5th district from 1997 to 2003.

Born and raised in Chicago, Blagojevich graduated from Northwestern University in 1979 and the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1983. After graduating, he became a criminal prosecutor at the Cook County State's Attorney Office during the late 1980s. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 33rd state house district in the Illinois House of Representatives where he supported mostly law and order policies. Forgoing a third two-year term in the state legislature, he represented Illinois's 5th congressional district for six years, winning re-election twice. He was elected governor in 2002, becoming the first Democrat to win the office since 1972. There was increased public education funding, infrastructure development, and criminal justice reforms during his first term. Blagojevich was reelected to a second term in 2006, leading to the passage of a variety of healthcare, gun control, and anti-discrimination bills.

In December 2008, a federal investigation led to Blagojevich's arrest on corruption charges after he attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama upon his election to the presidency. Shortly after his arrest, Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office by the Illinois General Assembly. He was also barred by the Illinois Senate's judgement from holding public office in the state again. In June 2011, Blagojevich was convicted in a federal criminal trial for his role in the corruption scandal, and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. President Donald Trump formally commuted his sentence in 2020, after Blagojevich had been imprisoned for nearly eight years, and fully pardoned him in 2025. Blagojevich had previously been a contestant on Trump's reality series The Celebrity Apprentice. Blagojevich subsequently supported Trump's 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, and attended the 2024 Republican National Convention. He has since described himself as a "Trumpocrat".

To date, Blagojevich is the only Illinois governor to be successfully impeached and removed from office.

Early life

Rod Blagojevich was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second of two sons of Serb immigrants from FPR Yugoslavia. His father, Rade B. Blagojevich, was an immigrant steel plant laborer from a village near Kragujevac, PR Serbia. His mother, Mila, was a Herzegovinian Serb whose family was originally from Gacko, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina. His parents moved to Chicago in 1947. He grew up on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Blagojevich's older brother Rob worked as a fund-raiser for Blagojevich in his later political career. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family pay its bills. He was a shoeshiner and pizza delivery boy before working at a meatpacking plant. In order to afford university costs, Blagojevich worked for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System as a dishwasher.

Blagojevich does not have a middle name, but uses the initial "R" in honor of his deceased father. His nickname in the family was "Milorad", which some have mistakenly thought to be his name at birth.

Blagojevich graduated from Chicago's Foreman High School after transferring from Lane Technical High School. He played basketball in high school, and participated in two fights after training as a Golden Gloves boxer. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Tampa. After two years, he transferred to Northwestern University in suburban Evanston, where he graduated in 1979 with a B.A. in history. He earned his J.D. from the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1983. He later said of the experience: "I went to law school at a place called Pepperdine in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean — a lot of surfing and movie stars and all the rest. I barely knew where that law library was."

Personal life

Blagojevich is married to Patricia Mell, the daughter of former Chicago alderman Richard Mell. He is a Serbian Orthodox Christian.

Blagojevich voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and voted for his re-election in 1984.

Amateur boxing career

Blagojevich had an amateur boxing career which spanned 13 months and included Golden Gloves competition. He trained under Jerry Marzillo in Chicago's Park District, and he fought some of his matches at the St. Andrews Gym in Chicago's Northside.

Early career

Prosecutor

Blagojevich clerked for Chicago Alderman Edward Vrdolyak. Blagojevich then took a job as Cook County Assistant State's Attorney (assistant prosecutor) under State's Attorney Richard M. Daley, specializing in domestic abuse crimes and felony weapons cases.

State and federal legislator

In 1992, with the backing of his influential father-in-law, Blagojevich unseated 14-year incumbent Myron Kulas in the Democratic primary for the 33rd state house district, in the Illinois House of Representatives, which includes part of Chicago's North Side. As is the case with most state legislative elections in Chicago, this virtually assured him of election in November. He drew on his experiences as a prosecutor to draft bills that he argued would strengthen the state's judicial system and reduce crime.

In 1996, Blagojevich did not seek reelection to the statehouse but instead ran for Illinois's 5th congressional district, based on the North Side. The district had long been represented by Dan Rostenkowski, who served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rostenkowski lost reelection in 1994 to Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan after pleading guilty to mail fraud. However, Flanagan was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district and was regarded as a heavy underdog. Blagojevich soundly defeated Flanagan by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, with support from his father-in-law. He was elected two more times, taking 74% against a nominal Republican challenger in 1998 and having only a Libertarian opponent in 2000.

Blagojevich was not known as a particularly active congressman. In the late 1990s, he traveled with Jesse Jackson to Belgrade in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to negotiate with President Slobodan Milošević for the release of American prisoners of war.

On October 10, 2002, Blagojevich was one of 81 House Democrats, and one of only two from Illinois (the other being David D. Phelps), who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

Gubernatorial campaigns

2002 election

During 2002, Blagojevich campaigned for his party's nomination to become governor. Blagojevich won a close primary campaign against former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris and Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Paul Vallas, who ran well in the suburban collar counties of Chicago. Blagojevich finished strongly in Southern Illinois, winning 55% of the primary vote downstate, enough to win a primary victory by a thin margin.

During the primary, state Senator Barack Obama backed Burris but, at Burris's suggestion, supported Blagojevich after he won the primary, serving as a "top adviser" for the general election. Future Obama senior adviser David Axelrod had previously worked with Blagojevich on congressional campaigns, but did not consider Blagojevich ready to be governor and declined to work for him on this campaign. According to Rahm Emanuel, he, Obama, Blagojevich's campaign co-chair David Wilhelm, and another Blagojevich staffer "were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory", meeting weekly to outline campaign strategies. However, Wilhelm has said that Emanuel overstated Obama's role in the sessions, and Emanuel said in December 2008 that Wilhelm was correct and he had been wrong in his earlier 2008 recollection to The New Yorker.

In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Republican Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan. Blagojevich's campaign was helped by his well-connected father-in-law, Chicago alderman Richard Mell. Ethics scandals had plagued the previous administration of Republican George Ryan (no relation to Jim Ryan), and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government. Polls prior to the election found that many Illinois voters were confused about the names of George Ryan and Jim Ryan, a fact which Blagojevich used to his advantage. He asked, "How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change? You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich."

Blagojevich won with 52% of the vote over Jim Ryan. On election night, he said: "Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, Illinois has voted for change."

2006 reelection

From 2005 to 2006, Blagojevich served as federal liaison for the Democratic Governors Association. In 2005, Blagojevich also served as a Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association.