Background and career
Rod R. Blagojevich ( blə-GOY-ə-vitch; born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked in both the state and federal legislatures. He served as an Illinois state representative from 1993 to 1997, and the U.S. representative from Illinois's 5th district from 1997 to 2003. Born and raised in Chicago, Blagojevich graduated from Northwestern University in 1979 and the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1983. After graduating, he became a criminal prosecutor at the Cook County State's Attorney Office during the late 1980s. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 33rd state house district in the Illinois House of Representatives where he supported mostly law and order policies. Forgoing a third two-year term in the state legislature, he represented Illinois's 5th congressional district for six years, winning re-election twice. He was elected governor in 2002, becoming the first Democrat to win the office since 1972. During his first term, the state increased education spending, launched a $5.3 billion rebuilding program for the Illinois Tollway, expanded health coverage, and enacted ethics and criminal-justice reforms. Blagojevich was reelected to a second term in 2006. His administration subsequently expanded preschool, signed a statewide smoking ban and renewable-energy standard, and continued efforts to broaden health coverage, while repeated budget disputes and changes to pension funding contributed to growing conflict with the General Assembly. In December 2008, a federal investigation led to Blagojevich's arrest on corruption charges after he attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama upon his election to the presidency. Shortly after his arrest, Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office by the Illinois General Assembly. He was also barred by the Illinois Senate's judgement from holding public office in the state again. In June 2011, Blagojevich was convicted in a federal criminal trial for his role in the corruption scandal, and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. President Donald Trump formally commuted his sentence in 2020, after Blagojevich had been imprisoned for nearly eight years, and fully pardoned him in 2025. Blagojevich had previously been a contestant on Trump's reality series The Celebrity Apprentice. Blagojevich subsequently supported Trump's 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, and attended the 2024 Republican National Convention. He has since described himself as a "Trumpocrat". To date, Blagojevich is the only Illinois governor to be successfully impeached and removed from office.
Rod Blagojevich was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second of two sons of Serb immigrants from FPR Yugoslavia. His father, Rade B. Blagojevich, was an immigrant steel plant laborer from a village near Kragujevac, PR Serbia. His mother, Mila, was a Herzegovinian Serb whose family was originally from Gacko, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina. His parents moved to Chicago in 1947. He grew up on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Blagojevich's older brother Rob worked as a fund-raiser for Blagojevich in his later political career. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family pay its bills. He was a shoeshiner and pizza delivery boy before working at a meatpacking plant. In order to afford university costs, Blagojevich worked for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System as a dishwasher. Blagojevich does not have a middle name, but uses the initial "R" in honor of his deceased father. His nickname in the family was "Milorad", which some have mistakenly thought to be his name at birth. Blagojevich graduated from Chicago's Foreman High School after transferring from Lane Technical High School. He played basketball in high school, and participated in two fights after training as a Golden Gloves boxer. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Tampa. After two years, he transferred to Northwestern University in suburban Evanston, where he graduated in 1979 with a B.A. in history. He earned his J.D. from the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1983. He later said of the experience: "I went to law school at a place called Pepperdine in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean — a lot of surfing and movie stars and all the rest. I barely knew where that law library was."
Blagojevich is married to Patricia Mell, the daughter of former Chicago alderman Richard Mell. He is a Serbian Orthodox Christian. Blagojevich voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and voted for his re-election in 1984.
Blagojevich had an amateur boxing career which spanned 13 months and included Golden Gloves competition. He trained under Jerry Marzillo in Chicago's Park District, and he fought some of his matches at the St. Andrews Gym on Chicago's North Side.
Blagojevich clerked for Chicago Alderman Edward Vrdolyak. Blagojevich then took a job as Cook County Assistant State's Attorney (assistant prosecutor) under State's Attorney Richard M. Daley, specializing in domestic abuse crimes and felony weapons cases.
In 1992, with the backing of his influential father-in-law, Blagojevich unseated 14-year incumbent Myron Kulas in the Democratic primary for the 33rd state house district, in the Illinois House of Representatives, which includes part of Chicago's North Side. As is the case with most state legislative elections in Chicago, this virtually assured him of election in November. He drew on his experiences as a prosecutor to draft bills that he argued would strengthen the state's judicial system and reduce crime. In 1996, Blagojevich did not seek reelection to the statehouse but instead ran for Illinois's 5th congressional district, based on the North Side. The district had long been represented by Dan Rostenkowski, who served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rostenkowski lost reelection in 1994 to Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan after pleading guilty to mail fraud. However, Flanagan was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district and was regarded as a heavy underdog. Blagojevich soundly defeated Flanagan by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, with support from his father-in-law. He was elected two more times, taking 74% against a nominal Republican challenger in 1998 and having only a Libertarian opponent in 2000. Blagojevich was not known as a particularly active congressman. In the late 1990s, he traveled with Jesse Jackson to Belgrade in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to negotiate with President Slobodan Milošević for the release of American prisoners of war. On October 10, 2002, Blagojevich was one of 81 House Democrats, and one of only two from Illinois (the other being David D. Phelps), who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
