A state lawmaker with key endorsements from the Left won a primary election for Illinois‘s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday, strongly positioning her to win a seat in Congress this fall.
State Rep. Delia Ramirez, who was backed by a laundry list of high-profile progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), defeated Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas to win the Democratic nomination for the western Chicago-area seat.
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The 3rd District, which is represented by Democratic Rep. Marie Newman, was redrawn by the Illinois General Assembly to shed majority-white suburbs in southwestern Chicago and pick up parts of the 4th Congressional District in order to become a Hispanic-majority seat. The seat’s partisan makeup is heavily Democratic, so Ramirez is expected to cruise through the general election in November.
Along with the Voting Rights Act-protected 4th District, currently represented by Democratic Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, the redrawn 3rd District will be the second majority-Hispanic congressional seat in Illinois. After her district was dramatically changed, Newman opted to challenge Democratic Rep. Sean Casten in the 6th Congressional District but was handily defeated in that race on Tuesday.
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Ramirez first won her seat in the Illinois House of Representatives in 2018. In the legislature, she has become known as a champion of left-wing causes, including through her support for rent and eviction moratoriums despite opposition from property owners at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
