Casten, Foster, Schakowsky, Quigley and Garcia facing primary challenges
The first day of candidate filing for Illinois' March 2024 primary election revealed potential intraparty contests in five suburban congressional districts.
Democratic incumbents are being challenged by members of their own party in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and 11th House Districts, which serve various parts of the North, West and Northwest suburbs.
Additionally, three Republican candidates submitted nominating petitions for the 11th District seat.
Petition filing for the March 19 primary ballot began Monday and concludes Dec. 4. More challenges are possible; at least one is expected.
Primary challenges
In the largely suburban 5th District, veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago is facing a primary challenge from Chicagoan Jerico Matias Cruz, who unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2022 as an independent.
Republican Tommy Hanson, a Chicagoan now making his fifth bid for Congress, also is running.
Quigley defeated Hanson in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Hanson lost to Democrat Rahm Emanuel in 2008.
Hanson gained national media attention earlier this fall when a photograph of him wearing nothing but a skimpy swimsuit decorated with the U.S. flag and sandals at Chicago's 2008 pride parade surfaced during his wife Gabrielle's mayoral campaign in Franklin, Tennessee.
Gabrielle Hanson lost the mayor's race and resigned as a Franklin alderman earlier this month.
During his 2022 campaign, Tommy Hanson said he lives in Chicago, and the autobiographical section on his campaign website says nothing about Tennessee. His professional real estate website has a broken link to an operation in Tennessee, however, as well as one to a working page for Chicago real estate opportunities that touts his wife's services.
Gabrielle Hanson lives in Tennessee and works there as a real estate agent, public records and professional websites indicate.
Questions about where the Hansons live surfaced during her mayoral campaign, among other controversies.
The 5th District cuts diagonally through Cook and Lake counties between Chicago's North Side and the Barrington area.
In the 6th District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove is being challenged once again by Chicago Democrat Charles Hughes.
Casten defeated Hughes and then-U.S. Rep. Marie Newman of La Grange in last year's primary before besting Orland Park Republican Keith Pekau in the 2022 general election to win a third term.
On the other side of the political aisle, Niki Conforti of Glen Ellyn is back for another shot at the GOP nomination in the 6th. She lost to Pekau in the 2022 primary.
The 6th District includes much of the West and Southwest suburbs in Cook and DuPage counties.
In the 9th District, veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston is looking at a primary contest with Park Ridge resident Michael Donahue.
The 9th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. The seat has been solidly blue for decades, and Schakowsky hasn't faced a serious challenge since first being elected in 1998.
In the 4th District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia of Chicago is being challenged in the primary by Chicago Alderman Raymond A. Lopez. Garcia is going for a fourth term; Lopez has sat on the city council since 2015.
The 4th District encompasses parts of Cook and DuPage counties, including neighborhoods in Elmhurst and Oak Brook.
Showdowns are shaping up on both sides of the political aisle in the 11th District.
For the Democrats, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville is facing a challenge from Qasim Rashid, a Naperville resident who twice ran for office in Virginia before moving to Illinois last year.
As for the Republicans, Susan Hathaway-Altman of Geneva, Jerry Evans of Warrenville and Dr. Kent Mercado of Bartlett all filed Monday.
Hathaway-Altman and Evans both were candidates in 2022 and lost the GOP primary race to Catalina Lauf, whom Foster ultimately defeated.
The 11th spans parts of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties.
Other districts
Elsewhere, in the 8th District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi will seek a fifth term. Chicagoan Mark Rice filed to run in the Republican primary.
The 8th District includes parts of Cook, DuPage and Kane counties.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider of Highland Park was the only candidate from either major party who filed petitions in the 10th District on Monday. Lake Forest resident Joe Severino, who ran against Schneider as a Republican and lost in 2022, has said he would run as a Democrat in 2024 but did not file Monday morning.
The 10th District encompasses parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez of Chicago is seeking a second term representing the 3rd District and was the only candidate for the seat to file Monday. The district encompasses parts of Cook and DuPage counties, including neighborhoods in Wheaton and West Chicago.
In the 14th District, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville was the only Democrat who filed paperwork for that seat Monday. Likewise, Republican James T. Marter of Oswego once again filed for his party's nomination in the 14th. Marter, the Kendall County GOP chair, unsuccessfully ran for the 14th District seat in 2020 and in 2022. He also ran for a different congressional seat in 2018 and for U.S. Senate in 2016.
Whether any of these candidates reman on the ballot depends on if their petitions are successfully challenged on technical grounds by political foes. The deadline to file such objections is Dec. 11.
Primary winners will proceed to the general election on Nov. 5, 2024.