Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, facing mounting questions within his own Democratic caucus over how his office handled sexual harassment allegations against a now-former lawmaker, moved Wednesday to shore up support with a key progressive ally — telling Chicago Teachers Union members he’ll push for additional state funding for Chicago Public Schools during the fall veto session as the district confronts a massive budget hole and the threat of hundreds of teacher layoffs.
“I strongly committed in the veto session to supporting the supplemental funding bill because I know we’re all going to be there (in Springfield) for veto session,” Welch told CTU members at an Illinois Federation of Teachers board meeting, according to a video posted Wednesday by the CTU. “You’ve got my support 110%.”
It’s the latest opportunity the Hillside Democrat has had to court progressive-minded interests as he navigates uncertain support among his own members, many of them progressives, as leader of the 78-member House Democratic Caucus. That uncertainty follows a Tribune investigation earlier this month that raised questions over how Welch’s office handled sexual harassment allegations against disgraced ex-state Rep. Harry Benton, a Democrat from Plainfield, in 2023.
It’s unclear where the state would find the money after Gov. JB Pritzker last month signed a nearly $56 billion budget that relied on a series of new taxes and other tweaks to come into balance, while also reviving some temporary election-year tax breaks Democrats last used when Pritzker sought a second term four years ago. In the video, Welch didn’t elaborate on his plans or how he would carry them out, and a spokesperson for the speaker didn’t return a request for comment. A spokesperson for Pritzker also didn’t return a request for comment.
Welch’s signal of support for more CPS funding comes as the city’s Board of Education is slated to vote Thursday on a $9.96 billion budget after a projected $732 million deficit and the laying off of more than 700 teachers.
The six-day fall veto session is scheduled to run Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3 in Springfield. In the video, Welch said he was unlikely to call for a special session before the scheduled veto session to address the CPS funding issue.
On Wednesday, CPS CEO Macquline King said the board should pass the budget as-is, referring to cuts CPS had to make nearly a decade ago after the legislature passed a fiscal plan.
“Back in 2017, CPS’ budget assumption was anchored in actual state legislation that had been passed by the legislature and was waiting for the Governor’s signature. When the legislation was vetoed, CPS was forced to make devastating mid-year cuts,” King said in a statement. “This time around, state revenue is not promised or secured. The state has not called a special session, the legislature has not passed any legislation providing us with additional revenue, and in fact, the State has already passed its FY2027 budget.
“We will continue to advocate with our partners at all levels of government to get the funding we know our students need,” King continued in the statement. “But trying to balance the budget on unrealized state revenue at the 11th hour would be a mistake with devastating short-and-long-term consequences.”
In the CTU video, Welch spoke to CTU members about the importance of the state bringing in more revenue, including his support for an amendment to institute a millionaire’s tax — which failed to draw enough support from Democrats in his own caucus during the spring legislative session that ended June 1.
“I do think that the state of Illinois (can) do better, should do better,” he said in the CTU video while holding a promotional flyer that read “layoff notice.” “This shouldn’t be happening, and I’m going to keep fighting for you so that we can get more revenue (to) CPS schools.”
In an image from video, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch speaks to members of the Chicago Teachers Union on July 29, 2026. (Chicago Teachers Union)
Still, the timing of the announcement also follows Welch being forced to contain fallout from political pressure he’s received from fellow House Democrats, particularly the House Democratic Women’s Caucus, in the wake of the monthslong Tribune investigation that raised questions about the speaker’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against Benton. The Tribune investigation found that a young female now-former staffer for Benton filed a lengthy list of harassment allegations, many of them of a sexual nature, with Welch’s then-chief of staff in 2023.
But Welch’s office didn’t contact Benton until three months had lapsed and the staffer had quit her job over what she said was fear for her mental health. In addition, there’s no indication Benton faced discipline following the 2023 allegations, and Welch’s campaign operation contributed $1.4 million to Benton’s campaign ahead of his bid for reelection in 2024.
It wasn’t until February of this year that Welch removed Benton from his committee assignments and other caucus duties after at least one other complaint against Benton made its way to the speaker’s office. The Tribune reported Welch’s actions against Benton followed a female lobbyist’s interaction with Benton this winter at a bar in Chicago’s River North, where, she told the Tribune, Benton used his phone to show her pictures of women he claimed to have slept with and made lewd comments toward her. The lobbyist’s complaints about Benton’s behavior reached Welch’s office, and the speaker asked the legislative inspector general’s office to investigate.
After receiving Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey’s investigative report on the case, Welch on July 1 called for Benton to resign from the legislature, which he did two days later. Benton also dropped his 2026 reelection campaign.
In the meantime, Welch and Pritzker have called for the report to be released publicly, which the Legislative Ethics Commission — composed of four Republican and four Democratic lawmakers — voted unanimously to do by Friday.
Separately, the Tribune also revealed in its investigation that Welch had interactions with the former Benton staffer on social media — which included him responding with heart-eye emojis to images of her — as well as a request over the encrypted Signal messaging app to meet in the bar area of a suburban restaurant, a meeting she said she did not attend. The young woman once interned in Welch’s office and, according to the speaker’s spokesperson, he and the woman had a “cordial friendship,” though the communications in question did not occur while she was still interning for the office. The former staffer has told the Tribune that Welch’s emoji responses made her feel “uncomfortable.”
While Welch has said the findings in McCuskey’s report would show his office acted properly regarding the former Benton staffer’s report of sexual harassment in 2023, it is unlikely McCuskey’s report will judge the appropriateness of Welch’s handling of the 2023 allegations because the one-year statute of limitations for the legislative inspector general to issue findings has elapsed on incidents the ex-staffer described.
Pritzker has urged Welch to come clean with the public about his actions, and following numerous meetings with Democratic lawmakers, the House Democratic Women’s Caucus called his handling of the case “insufficient.”
Also, last week, McCuskey, a former federal judge, made comments in a central Illinois radio interview lowering expectations of any bombshell findings in his report when he said, “If you read the Tribune, you’ll know more than I do.”