Carolyn Schofield is running as an Independent for Illinois lieutenant governor in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. She faces Republican Aaron Del Mar and Democrat Christian L. Mitchell.
Schofield, a Crystal Lake resident, describes herself as a bipartisan local leader with over 20 years of experience across state and local government, according to her campaign website. She said she is passionate about unifying groups to solve complex challenges for the betterment of the whole community.
Candidate information
- Party: Independent
- Residence: Crystal Lake, Illinois
- Education: Bachelor's degree in general engineering with environmental quality specialization, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1994)
- Family: Married; three children
Experience and public service
Schofield's career spans engineering, education and elected office. She worked as a field engineer in fire protection, covering highly protected risks and product liability. She later served as a legislative director at the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield and as a substitute teacher in Crystal Lake School District 47.
She also held elected office. Schofield served on the Crystal Lake City Council and as a McHenry County board member, according to BallotReady records.
Schofield said she serves as president of the McHenry County Mental Health Board. She also said she is vice chair of the On to 2050 Regional Plan at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, known as CMAP, where BallotReady records show she has been an executive committee member since 2013.
On the issues
The following positions are drawn from Schofield's campaign website and her responses on BallotReady.
Property taxes and spending: Schofield said she would start by lowering property taxes, which she called the highest in the country. She said her ticket would freeze discretionary spending in its first year and put transparent accountability standards in place to measure the impact of tax dollars.
Health care costs: Schofield said she would work to reduce health care costs by reforming the Certificate of Need process, known as CON, and addressing market consolidation. She said consolidation is stifling competition and artificially increasing medical prices for Illinois residents.
Infrastructure and transportation: Schofield said she would speed up road and bridge improvements and reduce traffic congestion by streamlining bureaucracy, speeding up approval timelines and improving procurement processes. She also said she would rein in unchecked data center growth.
Public safety: Schofield said she would hold criminals accountable while rehabilitating offenders, according to her campaign reform page. She said she would work to fix the Department of Corrections, where she said hundreds of inmates have been abused and sexually assaulted, including over 900 minors in juvenile detention facilities.
Government reform: Schofield said she would push to end partisan gerrymandering with fair maps, give voters more choice through open primaries, reduce the power of party bosses through campaign finance reform and increase transparency in campaign finances.
The Naper Today candidate questionnaire was sent to Bryan Drew's campaign. No response was received as of Oct. 9, 2026. The policy positions above are drawn from his public campaign website and public records.
