Valencia was first elected City Clerk for the city of Chicago in 2017, and says her main goal for state wide office is to modernize it so more services are available online.
"So you don't have to take a day off of work, drive thirty miles, wait in line, find child care, and transportation. You can do things on your mobile device. Whether that's you taking your vision test, paying online, appointment dates, all your renewals should be on your mobile services so that's priority one."
Valencia grew up in Granite City and while attending the University of Illinois became interested in politics and government. She's worked for a number of local and state leaders including US Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel.
"And what I noticed is I didn't see a lot of women, and particularly women of color in campaigns and so that was some of the reason why I kept going and getting involved to make sure that we have representation on every level."
If elected secretary of state, Valencia also wants to focus on ballot access and making sure Illinois does not duplicate what she calls 'the voter suppression laws' being passed in states like Iowa, Texas, and Florida.