Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Awisi Bustos on her government experience, ‘militarization’ of ICE, and affordability

We’re continuing our series of candidate interviews in the run-up to the March Democratic and Republican primaries for U.S. Senate in Illinois.

Awisi Quartey Bustos is running on the Democratic side. She previously worked for retiring Senator Dick Durbin for five years as an aide, based in the Quad Cities. Bustos also worked for the state of Illinois, as well as in the private sector. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Purdue University. After that, Bustos worked as an intern for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She also received a law degree from the University of Illinois Chicago. More recently, she served as a senior policy advisor for the Illinois Department of Human Services and before running for Senate, Bustos moved into the world of nonprofits as executive director of the state’s Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs. Bustos joins us live from our Urbana studios.

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Awisi Bustos 
Candidate for U.S. Senate, Democratic Primary 2026