Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss defeated two strong competitors in the Democratic primary to replace longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in Illinois’s 9th Congressional District on Tuesday night.
The Associated Press called the race for Biss at 10:36 p.m., over two hours after the polls closed. Biss won with 29.6% of the vote, with progressive Kat Abughazaleh coming in second place with 25.6% of the vote. Democratic state Sen. Laura Fine came in third with 20.4%.
Illinois operates under a plurality system, meaning the person with the most votes wins even if they receive less than 50% of the vote.
Schakowsky had endorsed Biss as her successor. Biss also received endorsements from Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
This is the mayor’s second attempt at a higher office, after losing a 2018 bid for governor against Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL).
Unlike the Senate race, the 9th District’s Democratic primary was a target of allies of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobbying group. AIPAC had heightened its attacks against Biss throughout the primary and originally intended Fine as its preferred candidate.
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But the attacks allowed Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American and a vocal critic of Israel, to gain significant momentum in the final days of the race, so AIPAC pulled back all of its anti-Biss messaging, per Politico.
Despite a second-place finish, Abughazaleh’s results capped off a strong, grassroots campaign that she launched before Schakowsky, 81, announced she would not seek a 15th term in Congress. Abughazaleh gained national attention when she was arrested on federal charges for protesting outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois.
Biss will face Republican John Elleson in the general election in November. The race is considered a safe Democratic seat.
