As expected, Biss to succeed Schakowsky in 9th Congressional District
Voters in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District haven’t sent a Republican to the Capitol since Harry Truman was president — and that decades-long streak of Democratic victories was extended Tuesday.
As expected, Evanston Democrat Daniel Biss cruised to victory over Republican John Elleson of Arlington Heights in the contest to succeed veteran U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, also of Evanston.
With an estimated 60% of estimated votes counted, Biss was ahead with roughly 79% of the total, unofficial results showed. That was more than enough for The Associated Press to declare Biss the winner.
The crowd at Biss’ watch party cheered when word spread of the declaration at about 7:50 p.m., less than an hour after polls officially closed. It was the first congressional race in the North or Northwest suburbs to be called by the news service.
The 9th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties, and its heart is the deep blue neighborhoods of Chicago’s North Shore and the Near North suburbs.
Biss, who was in his second term as Evanston’s mayor until he resigned last month, paid homage to one of those core communities by holding his election night shindig not in his hometown as one might expect but at the Jarvis Square Tavern in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
The cash-only watering hole’s website proclaims it’s “one of the earliest gay bars in Chicago.” It regularly hosts live music performances, open mics and other community gatherings.
But Tuesday night, as the sound of televised election result coverage filled the tavern, it was all about celebrating the next representative for the 9th District.
Many Biss supporters arrived ahead of the party’s scheduled 7 p.m. start time, mingling in clusters among leftover Halloween decorations still suspended from the ceiling. Some donned buttons reading “Biss for Congress.”
Schakowsky has represented the 9th District since 1999, and her decision in 2025 to not seek reelection this year triggered a 14-way Democratic primary and a four-way Republican showdown this past spring. Because of the district’s overwhelmingly blue hue, the winner of the Democratic primary was expected to triumph in the general election.
Biss had Schakowsky’s blessing since before the primary.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing Daniel be a great leader in Congress,” Schakowsky said Tuesday. “I couldn’t be more happy to have him as my successor.”
Surrounded by dozens of supporters, his family and Schakowsky, Biss took to a makeshift stage a little before 8:30 p.m. to address his supporters.
“It is an honor of a lifetime to stand in front of you as the next congressional representative from the 9th District of Illinois,” he told the crowd.
Biss gave a nod to Elleson in his victory speech, saying he received a “very generous” phone call from his rival just a few moments before taking the stage, conceding the race. He thanked Elleson for running a clean campaign.
Elleson — a pastor at an Arlington Heights church who unsuccessfully ran against Schakowsky in 2018 — barely campaigned in the primary. But neither did his opponents, none of whom reported raising much money, and several of whom attracted the kind of publicity that keeps candidates from winning elections.
Elleson didn’t do any fundraising for the general election either. That meant no cash for TV ads, campaign staffers, consultants or polling — all must-haves for modern congressional candidates who intend to win.
With the odds stacked against him from the get-go, Elleson said he felt asking for campaign contributions would be disingenuous.
“It’s a tough time for people,” Elleson said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I just didn’t feel good about it.”
Team Biss had received more than $3.4 million in campaign contributions and spent more than $2.8 million as of mid-October, records show. Of the congressional candidates running Tuesday in the North or Northwest suburbs, only U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, a Highland Park Democrat in the neighboring 10th District, raised or spent more than Biss this cycle.
Money wasn’t the only thing separating Biss and Elleson. They also diverged on several key issues, especially the performance of President Donald Trump.
Elleson said he supports Trump’s foreign policy, tariffs and expansion of power through executive orders. Biss, however, said he is appalled by these actions and policies, calling them unconstitutional.
Biss and Elleson viewed immigration enforcement policy differently, too.
Biss was an outspoken critic of Trump’s anti-immigration efforts, especially Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area. He criticized U.S. border control policy as a “deranged effort to intimidate, brutalize and kill people either based on the color of their skin or the language they speak,” and he joined protesters outside a Department of Homeland Security processing facility in Broadview.
Biss also had a much-publicized — and tense — faceoff with then-U. S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino at an Evanston gas station in December 2025.
Elleson’s approach to immigration was much more moderate. He advocated for an amnesty program for people who entered the U.S. illegally but also reportedly suggested, at a public forum in Skokie, that protesters blowing whistles and obstructing agents during enforcement efforts might lead to violence.
Instead of staging a watch party Tuesday night, Elleson and his wife, Sue, visited seriously ill people in Chicago-area hospitals. Such visits, he said, keep you from thinking about yourself.
Elleson refused to be bitter about the loss.
“Someone’s got to win, and someone’s got to lose,” he said.
rlissau@dailyherald.com
cmurphy@chicagotribune.com