Sean Casten

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Sean Casten
Official portrait of Casten from the 117th Congress. Sitting in front of an American flag, he wears a dark suit, a light blue shirt, and a blue tie.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 6th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2019
Preceded by Peter Roskam
Personal details
Born Sean Thomas Casten
(1971-11-23) November 23, 1971 (age 52)
Dublin, Ireland
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Kara (m. 2000)
Children 2 (1 deceased)
Education Middlebury College (BA)
Dartmouth College (MSEM, MS)
Website House website

Sean Thomas Casten (born November 23, 1971) is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 6th congressional district. The district covers portions of five counties in Chicago's western suburbs, including Wheaton, Palatine, and Barrington. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Due to redistricting as a result of the 2020 United States census, Casten and fellow Democrat Marie Newman contended to represent the same district in the 2022 Democratic primary election. Casten defeated Newman in the primary election on June 28, 2022. He won the general election, beating the Republican nominee, Orland Park mayor Keith Pekau, on November 8, 2022.[1]

Early life and education

Born in Dublin, Ireland, to American parents,[2] and raised in Hartsdale, New York, Casten earned a Bachelor of Arts in molecular biology and biochemistry from Middlebury College in 1993. He then worked for two years as a scientist at the Tufts University School of Medicine. In 1998, he earned a Master of Engineering Management and a Master of Science in biochemical engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.[3]

Business career

Casten began his career working at consultancy Arthur D. Little, where he did fuel chain analyses for the company's chemical engineering group.[4] From 2000 to 2007, he served as the president and CEO of Turbosteam Corporation, which converted emissions from power plants into energy.[5]

In 2007, Casten and his father, Tom Casten, founded Recycled Energy Development (RED). RED focused on recycling wasted energy and converting energy facilities to cleaner, more economic uses.[6][7][8] RED attempted to make profitable use of waste heat capturing technology, an avenue of electricity generation that attracted interest from a number of startup companies looking to find a "breakthrough" in the technology.[9][10] In 2015, an investor in RED sued the company, alleging mismanagement by Casten. Casten settled the lawsuit and sold the company in 2016; he said the allegations against him were untrue and were part of a hostile takeover attempt.[5][11]

Casten was a founding chairman of the Northeast CHP Initiative.[12] He participated in crafting the bill that became the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a program in the northeast United States that attempts to use market forces to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[13]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

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Main article: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois § District 6

Casten announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Illinois's 6th congressional district in September 2017.[3] He defeated six other contenders in the 2018 Democratic primary to become the party's nominee against six-term incumbent Republican Peter Roskam.[14]

On November 6, 2018, Casten won the election, defeating Roskam by a margin of seven points.[15]

This race was viewed as one that Democrats needed to win in order to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since the 2010 elections.[16] Illinois's 6th congressional district supported Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by about 7 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.[17] This was one of 25 GOP-held seats in the U.S. Representatives that Clinton carried in 2016;[18] Democrats flipped 23 of them in 2018.[19][20]

2020

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Main article: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois § District 6

Casten was reelected in 2020, defeating former state legislator and gubernatorial primary candidate Jeanne Ives by seven points.[21]

2022

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Main article: 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois § District 6

In 2022, Casten faced fellow incumbent Democrat Marie Newman from Illinois's 3rd congressional district in the Democratic primary. The 2022 reapportionment merged a large slice of Newman's district into Casten's district. Although it retained Casten's district number, it was geographically more Newman's district than Casten's. According to calculations by Daily Kos, Newman retained 41% of her constituents and Casten retained 23% of his.[22] Nevertheless, Casten won the nomination.

Tenure

As of October 2022, Casten had voted in line with President Joe Biden's stated position 99% of the time during the 117th Congress.[23]

Climate change and energy

Casten says his number one issue in Congress is energy policy and climate change.[24][25][26] He is a member of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.[27] Of working with Congress on clean energy policy, Casten has said, "[T]he folks who really understand the energy system tend to be Republicans, and the folks who really understand environmental science tend to be Democrats. And there's a gap in talking to each other".[26] "We have a PhD-level problem. And Congress is at a 6th-grade reading level", he has said.[25]

Casten has introduced several bills related to energy policy, among them the Climate Risk Disclosure Act and the End Oil and Gas Subsidies Act.[28][29] The Clean Industrial Technology Act of 2019 would have established a program to incentivize innovation in greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing.[30]

Reparations

Casten is a sponsor of the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act. The bill would allow history books to go into more depth on African American struggles and set up a reparations commission for those with enslaved ancestors.[31][32]

Voting rights

Casten voted for Ayanna Pressley's amendment to H.R. 1, the Voting Rights Act, which would lower the voting age to 16.[33]

Abortion

Casten is an outspoken supporter of abortion rights.[34][35] Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, Casten voted for H.R.8296, the Women's Health Protection Act of 2022,[36] which would protect a person's ability to end a pregnancy and a healthcare provider's ability to provide abortion services.[34]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Electoral history

Illinois 6th Congressional District Democratic Primary, 2018[39]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Sean Casten 19,774 29.51
Democratic Kelly Mazeski 17,984 26.84
Democratic Carole Cheney 11,663 17.40
Democratic Amanda Howland 8,483 12.66
Democratic Becky Anderson Wilkins 4,001 5.97
Democratic Jennifer Zordani 2,743 4.09
Democratic Ryan Huffman 2,365 3.53
Total votes 67,013 100.0
Illinois 6th Congressional District General Election, 2018[40]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Sean Casten 169,001 53.58
Republican Peter J. Roskam (incumbent) 146,445 46.42
Total votes 315,446 100.0
Illinois 6th Congressional District Democratic Primary, 2020[41]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Sean Casten (incumbent) 82,909 100.00
Total votes 82,909 100.00
Illinois 6th Congressional District General Election, 2020[42]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Sean Casten (incumbent) 213,777 52.82
Republican Jeanne Ives 183,891 45.43
Libertarian Bill Redpath 7,079 1.75
Total votes 404,747 100.00

Personal life

Casten and his wife, Kara, live in Downers Grove, Illinois.[43]

On June 13, 2022, Casten's daughter Gwen died at the age of 17 from sudden cardiac arrest.[44][45] According to Casten, his daughter had been in good health, and was fully vaccinated against COVID-19.[45]

Casten's father is businessman Tom Casten, with whom he has worked.[5]

References

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  33. ↑ https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2021/roll057.xml[bare URL]
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External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 6th congressional district
2019–present		 Incumbent
United States order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States representatives by seniority
239th		 Succeeded by
Ben Cline

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