Daniel Biss wins Democratic primary for closely-watched Illinois House seat : NPR
Daniel Biss, Mayor of Evanston, Illinois, poses for a portrait in his campaign office on February 28, 2026, ahead of the Illinois primary.
Jamie Kelter Davis for NPR
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Jamie Kelter Davis for NPR
Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Illinois, won the Democratic primary for the state’s 9th Congressional District, according to an Associated Press race call, leading a crowded field in the race for a Chicago-area seat that hasn’t been open in nearly three decades.
His victory in the blue district ends a hotly contested primary of more than a dozen Democrats vying to succeed outgoing Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 81. who first took office in 1999.
With the support of Schakowsky and other national leaders such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Biss was considered the favorite heading into the race. On the campaign trail, he sought to differentiate himself by emphasizing both his experience as an elected official and his willingness to lobby for progressive causes and against President Trump’s agenda.
“I just don’t think we can afford to compromise on either of those two things,” he told NPR in an interview before the primaries.
Tuesday’s results are an early indication of what Democratic voters expect from the party’s next generation of leaders, and how much change they believe is necessary at a time when the party is locked out of power in Washington, DC.
Political newcomer Kat Abughazaleh finished second to Biss with a four percent lead. points with more than 90 percent of the votes counted, according to the AP. The 26-year-old progressive researcher and commentator has launched an anti-establishment message, arguing that Democrats have failed to deliver tangible results for their nation’s voters and must abandon the party’s long-standing norms.
“Bipartisanship is about negotiating different approaches to achieve a similar goal. I think that goal should be: Everyone can afford housing and groceries and health care with money left over to save and spend. I think that’s the real center,” she told NPR at a campaign event leading up to Tuesday’s primaries.
“We can’t just look at a compromise like cutting off your hand and being grateful they left your little finger.”
Although young and new candidates often face institutional barriers when running for Congress, Abughazaleh has become one of the most closely watched candidates in the race. Had she won, she would have been on track to become the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress.
While generational politics was a factor in the race — Biss, 48, is a member of Generation X — the primary was also defined by a debate over the role of special interest groups in elections, particularly pro-Israel groups like AIPAC. AIPAC-aligned individuals and groups have spent millions attacking Biss and supporting another candidate, State Sen. Laura Fine.
Biss, who is Jewish, denounced AIPAC but revealed he met with the group early in his campaign. He was criticized during the race for not taking a clearer stance on his opposition to U.S. aid to Israel. Abughazaleh, who is Palestinian-American, has criticized Israel’s war efforts in Gaza, calling them genocide.
Biss also came under scrutiny in the final days of the campaign after one of his former students accused him of an “inappropriate romantic relationship.”
The Biss campaign acknowledged this relationship in a statement shared with The North West dailyclaiming it happened in 2004, when Biss was a 26-year-old postdoctoral instructor at the University of Chicago and the student was 20 years old.
“Daniel realized then, as he does now, that it was unwise, and he put a stop to it,” the campaign says.
