CHICAGO – Today, CHANGE Illinois thanked Executive Director Ra Joy for his leadership and his extensive work fighting for democracy reform policies in Illinois. It was announced this morning that Ra Joy would depart CHANGE and officially join Chris Kennedy’s ticket for the 2018 gubernatorial election.

CHANGE Illinois Board Chair John Sirek expressed his gratitude to Ra for his leadership at CHANGE:

“We are extremely proud of Ra Joy and all that he has done to fight for the people of Illinois. During his tenure as Executive Director of CHANGE Illinois, Ra has been a driving force in the fight against gerrymandering and was instrumental in getting same-day and automatic voter registration enacted. Throughout Ra’s entire career, he has focused on making our communities and state a better place, so it comes as no surprise that he would accept an offer to do the same thing on an even larger scale. Ra is the type of thought leader who will bring out the best in all candidates in next year’s election and we wish him the best of luck.”