Competition for 9th Congressional District heats up as 2 state legislators join large Democratic field

Yahoo

08-07-2025

The race to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky is getting more crowded.
State Sen. Mike Simmons will launch his campaign Tuesday, he told the Tribune, joining recently announced state Rep. Hoan Huynh — who also planned a campaign kickoff event Tuesday evening — and some 10 other Democratic candidates vying for the seat.
The latest campaign announcements come just ahead of the Cook County Democratic Party's planned slating meetings next week, when the party is expected to endorse candidates ahead of the 2026 primary.
As with many races in Democratic-leaning districts, the campaign in the 9th Congressional District, which covers a swath of Chicago's North Side and suburbs from Evanston west to Algonquin, is shaping up around concerns over economy and the disruption brought on by policies under President Donald Trump's administration.
'I'm running because the communities in the 9th District have raised me, and they're struggling,' Simmons said Monday. 'It's one of the most diverse areas in the nation, and it is becoming unaffordable for too many.'
Simmons, the first openly gay member of the state Senate, was first appointed to his seat in 2021 and has won two elections since then. He isn't up for reelection until 2028, so he could keep the Senate seat if he doesn't win in the congressional race.
Huynh, a 35-year-old Uptown resident in his second two-year term in the Illinois House, said he's running to represent a new generation in the district. He's up for reelection next year, meaning he can't run for Congress without giving up his seat.
The two state legislators join a field that includes Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Laura Fine of Glenview and social media content creator Kat Abughazaleh.
Biss, who entered the race partway through the second quarter fundraising period, raised more than $700,000 from April to June, with $640,000 cash on hand, according to his campaign. Abughazaleh raised more than $520,000 during the same period, according to her campaign, bringing her total on hand to $650,000.
The deadline to report second quarter financial information is next week, so totals for other candidates weren't yet available.
The Democratic primary in the 9th District will be key in determining who will become only the third representative for the district since 1965. Schakowsky, who won the seat in a competitive 1998 election after longtime Rep. Sidney Yates announced his retirement, has not endorsed a successor. A person familiar with her decision-making told the Tribune in June she's not intending to provide any endorsements in the race as she wants an open primary.
As a member of the General Assembly, Simmons has been an advocate for public transit. In an interview, he highlighted his work for health care affordability and medical debt cancellation.
Simmons' parents were small business owners and in the 1980s were one of the first Black families to move into the North Side's Lincoln Square neighborhood, according to Simmons. He founded a consultancy that 'develops anti-racist public policy,' according to his biography on the Illinois General Assembly's webpage, and has held policy positions for elected officials, including former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office.
He said he's running in part to help families who feel priced out of the district.
'I symbolize everything that Donald Trump is trying to erase right now, but the point that's really important is that this is going to be about so much more than Donald Trump. It's going to be about talking about those (affordability) struggles,' said Simmons, who is 42 and lives in Rogers Park.
Born in Vietnam, Huynh immigrated to the U.S. with his family in the early 1990s. The family had political asylum status and lived in various places including Illinois before Huynh returned to Chicago about a decade ago, he said, after earning a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a master's from Harvard University.
Before he was in the General Assembly, Huynh worked at the social impact investment organization Chicago Beyond, he said.
'I found a new life here, and a home in America and Illinois,' Huynh said. 'I'm really running for Congress to make sure that promise that was possible for my family is possible for everyone.'
Huynh also has experience running for office in a large primary field, having won his seat in 2022 in a five-way Democratic race that included a candidate who received support from more traditional party allies.
But the Democratic race for Schakowsky's seat, open for the first time in more than two decades, has attracted an even larger field.
The other candidates so far are Bushra Amiwala, who became one of the first Gen Z elected officials in the United States when she joined the Skokie School District 73.5 board; Miracle Jenkins, who worked for Schakowsky as a deputy political director in 2018; civil rights attorney Howard Rosenblum; Chicago resident David Abrevaya; former Chicago Public Schools board candidate Bruce Leon; Evanston resident Bethany Johnson; and graduate student Lauren Million.
On the Republican side, Mark Su and Rocio Cleveland have filed paperwork to run for the seat.