Following the election of former State SenatorDan Rutherford as Illinois State Treasurer then State Rep. Shane Cultra was selected to fill out Rutherford's remaining term in the Illinois State Senate. Barickman was then appointed to fill Cultra's vacated House seat. Vacancies in the Illinois Legislature are filled by a weighted vote of the Republican Party Chairmen of those counties within the district. As Champaign County GOP Chairman, Barickman voluntarily relinquished his vote for both the senate and house seats, avoiding any perceived conflict of interest. Barickman then served a two-year term as a State Representative from the 105th House District in Illinois, a district that comprised parts of Livingston, Iroquois, Ford, McLean, Vermilion and Champaign counties.
Following Illinois' redistricting process and adoption of new legislative maps, Barickman announced his candidacy for the new 53rd Senate district. The 53rd district consists of all or parts of Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, McLean, Vermillion, and Woodford counties. Barickman was elected to the Illinois State Senate on November 6, 2012. On February 14, 2013, the Illinois State Senate voted on a gay-marriage bill. Barickman was the lone Republican senator to vote for the bill. During the 2014 regular legislative session, Barickman, as co-chair of the Legislative Audit Commission, was heavily involved in the audit of former Governor Pat Quinn's controversial Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, a program which was hastily implemented by Quinn in the weeks leading up to the election, and was described by many as a wasteful disaster. NRI spent more than $50 million in taxpayer funding in grants to agencies in Chicago. This was followed by multiple criminal investigations and an additional state audit. Barickman has continued to work with members of both political parties to address the shortcomings in Illinois grant law to prevent future disasters similar to NRI. On September 18, 2016 following Deputy Minority Leader Senator Matt Murphy's resignation from the Republican Leadership, and Illinois Senate, Republican Minority Leader Christine Radogno appointed Barickman to Republican Minority Whip for the Republican Senate Caucus. Following the recent elections, Senator Barickman was promoted to one of four Assistant Republican Leadership positions. Senator Barickman was heavily involved in the process of reforming Illinois' outdated formula for distributing school funding. He was the first to file legislation establishing an Evidence Based Model. Through his advocacy, the EBM concept was eventually embraced by lawmakers from both parties and the Governor, and was the basis for a new funding system signed into law in 2017.
