Barickman Resigning from Senate, Says Making Young Family His "Priority"
Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), who was elected to the Senate in 2012, is resigning at the end of his current term.
Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) blindsided much of the political class in the state Monday dropping a surprise announcement that he would resign from the Senate at the end of the current General Assembly.
Barickman, 47, has was elected to the Senate in 2012 after a single term in the House.
He has been one of the highest profile GOP lawmakers in the last decade, negotiating high stakes pieces of legislation and being a GOP vote for hot button issues like gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana.
(Disclosure: I managed Barickman’s first primary race in 2012 and we remain friends.)
While most politicians who cite “spending more time with family” often use it as a misdirection from the real reason, Barickman, who has three children between the ages of 5 and 11, says he has decided to make his kids the focus.
“I have been on a sprint for a decade,” Barickman said. “I had a law career that was thriving and a real estate company that really took off five years ago. I’d made all of these choices in my life that booked up my calendar but made me unavailable for [my family.] So, I really reflected on where my priorities were.”
Barickman considered a race for congress in 2015 and said he discussed running statewide this year, but said he couldn’t do so with a young family at home.
“As I look ahead at how I want to spend my days and nights, I concluded I want to be much more involved in their day-to-day lives than I’ve been,” he said. “I’m talking about being an everyday, normal dad, who is raising kids and available to be at all of games and activities they’re involved in.”
Barickman often drove home from Springfield after session each night back to Bloomington. After redistricting his district expanded from six counties to 13.
He has spent the past two years as a top lieutenant to Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods), who was recently deposed by the GOP caucus, likely leaving Barickman on the outside looking in.
Asked if potentially losing a seat at the table influenced his decision to step aside, he said “zero.”
Barickman says he has no plans to lobby and says the decision was made to step aside recently, and was influenced by the beating Republicans across the state took in November.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you the outcome of the November election was tough,” he said, but claimed it wasn’t the deciding factor in his decision.
“It really has been a long time coming,” he said. “It has been an evolution.”
Asked if he’s open to seeking elected office again, Barickman said “that’s not at all something I’m thinking about.”
