Sanborn Williams
PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND POLITICAL STRATEGIES
Meet
Andrew Kretschmar
In 2012, Andrew launched his professional political career piloting the underdog Illinois state representative campaign of Democrat Sam Yingling and stunned the state’s political class by pulling off a 10-point, upset general election win over the incumbent in the GOP district. That victory prompted the House Speaker’s office to quickly recruit Andrew to their staff.
Andrew’s work with the House Democrats drew the attention of the Alzheimer’s Association and they recruited him to lead their state government affairs activities in Illinois.
Andrew reinvented the group’s advocacy program. Andrew’s advocacy model raised not only the Association’s government affairs profile in Springfield, but it also powered bi-partisan legislative victories. Andrew advanced multiple Alzheimer or related dementia initiatives to the governor’s desk, such as legislation creating the Community Care Program Medicaid Enrollment Oversight Task Force. Andrew served on the task force that oversaw record Medicaid enrollment increases of seniors to receive home-and-community-based services. Those Illinois successes convinced the Alzheimer’s Association to adopt Andrew’s advocacy program as their national model.
Fresh off the wins for the Alzheimer’s Association, the Service Employees International Union - Healthcare Illinois Indiana (HCII) hired Andrew to lead the union’s government affairs operation for its two largest membership divisions - home care and nursing homes, representing roughly 60,000 of the union's 80,000 workers
During his SEIU HCII tenure, Andrew led a number of the union’s numerous advocacy efforts: to implement some of the most progressive nursing home staffing reforms in the country; to increase the state budget for home and-community-based services by nearly $300 million to fund worker wage increases; and played a crucial role in the effort to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15/hour.
In 2021, Andrew launched his own public affairs and political consulting firm, Sanborn Williams Consulting, LLC, and quickly built a full stable of clients, including labor unions, trade associations, House and Senate lawmakers, among others.
Andrew and his wife, Chelsea, a Registered Nurse, their three-year old daughter, Logan, as well as their two pit-mix rescues, Penny and Piper, live in Palatine – where Andrew and Chelsea first met in high school. They reside four blocks from Chelsea’s childhood home.
Off the clock, Andrew cooks, travels, maintains Logan’s bouncy castle in the family garage, watches, cheers, and sometimes boos his football and baseball teams, and tends to the family yard, mowing, planting, installing decking, and erecting fencing to protect Penny and Piper from skunks.