Evanston voters re-elect Daniel Biss as mayor, per unofficial results
Mayor Daniel Biss declared victory over challenger Jeff Boarini after unofficial results showed he had captured about 60% of the vote to about 40% for Boarini.
'I want to thank Jeff for running, for giving the community a choice, for making points and bringing forward issues that I think we'll all be better off for having discussed together,' Biss said to his supporters at an election-night campaign gathering.
With 100% of Evanston's precincts tabulated in the April 1 election, unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk's office show incumbent Evanston Council Members Clare Kelly, Krissie Harris, Bobby Burns, Jonathan Nieuwsma and Juan Geracaris leading in their races. City Councilmember Devon Reid (8th) was the only incumbent to be losing Tuesday night, unofficial results show, to former Evanston Land Use Commission Chair Matt Rodgers.
City Councilmember Tom Suffredin was showing about a 9% lead over his challenger Candance Chow for the hotly contested 6th ward race, unofficial results showed.
Newcomers Shawn Iles and Parielle Davis were also in the lead for open seats in the 3rd and 7th wards, respectively.
In his next term, Biss will face big issues in Evanston, including charting the future of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, continuing to oversee Ryan Field and dealing with a K-8 school district, Evanston-Skokie District 65, in dire financial straits.
The next City Council's first big items will include the consideration of Envision Evanston, the city's comprehensive 20-year plan and an updated zoning code, which received heavy pushback from Evanston residents in the months leading into the election.
Previously, Biss campaigned hard for the Envision Evanston plan, but the city had to dramatically slow the pace of the project due to dissenting voices.
'Envision Evanston 2045 was a tough issue in this campaign,' Biss said. 'To those who are concerned about some of the changes we've been discussing, I hear you. I respect you. I appreciate that your voice is just as critical as every other voice, and that's why we slowed this down. That's why we created opportunities for more discussion and more engagement.'
'I need to say that every voice counts equally and so to those of you, or those maybe not in this room, who would say, 'Hey, nobody is asking for this,' I say simply, 'you are wrong.''
'You don't know my friend, Katie, who, when you ask her how she feels about Evanston, she says, 'The thing I love best is the new bagel shop in my neighborhood, and I just want more people so there can be more customers for more small businesses like that,'' Biss said.
'And you don't know the couple whose door I knocked on a couple months ago in the Fourth Ward who are way too busy with their multiple jobs and their small child to even really be paying attention to municipal politics at all.
'But when I ask them what's on their mind, they said, you know, we live in this two-unit building, and it was so hard for us to find something like this in this town… Could you do something so we could have more of those in this town?'
Biss, a former state representative and state senator, has maintained that he will not seek higher office during his next term as Evanston mayor.
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Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Yahoo
Jewish Tacoma candidate opposed by PAC backing ‘interests of Jewish community'
With funding coming largely from outside Tacoma, a political action committee that backs candidates who 'support the interests of the Jewish community' is spending thousands of dollars to oppose a candidate in Tacoma's District 5 City Council race. The PAC, called Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, spent $15,000 on mail and postage to send flyers opposing Cook to voters of District 5, and another $1,000 on text messages with the same goal. The group, according to a substack article linked on its website, is endeavoring to 'oppose hate in all forms' by elevating or opposing candidates at the local level who could move up to national positions. It's modeled after a California-based PAC called California Against Hate, which in 2022 worked to oppose a city council candidate in San Diego who was 'anti-Israel,' according to the article. 'Many of the most dangerous people crop up in the small cities,' Jared Sclar, co-founder of the California-based PAC, said of the Washington PAC in the substack article. 'If there is someone problematic, we may not know. We may not know someone is going to sneak by and get on the city council, and then they're the next Ilhan Omar,' Sclar wrote of Omar, a Democratic U.S. representative from Minnesota. Cook said she wasn't surprised to see such opposition to her campaign. 'I think these are the kind of hurdles that are very common when it comes to trying to win people-powered campaigns against corporate interests,' Cook told The News Tribune. The mail campaign came around mid-July, ahead of the Aug. 5 primary election that will whittle the slate of three candidates for the District 5 race down to two. Cook has raised the most money in the race so far at $47,012.98. Incumbent Joe Bushnell raised $35,744.14, and candidate Brandon A. Vollmer raised $851.03. The PAC as of July 24 raised $32,768.09 this year, only $1,000 of which came from a donor with a Tacoma address. The rest came from donors in Washington cities like Mercer Island, Seattle and Medina. At least one contributor listed an address in Naples, Florida. According to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, the PAC spent $18,076.61 by July 24, $16,000 of which paid for the campaign against Cook. The mailers that the PAC distributed depicted her standing in front of a building with broken windows with graffiti that reads 'don't burn' and 'ppl live upstairs' overlaid with text that stated, 'Zev Cook cooking up chaos for Tacoma.' It also implied that Cook supported defunding the police and stated that doing so would result in increased crime, gang violence and home invasions. Cook, a community organizer and activist, has the backing of groups like the Tacoma and Pierce County Democratic Socialists of America, United Food & Commercial Workers Local 3000, and the Washington Education Association's PAC. Incumbent Joe Bushnell, who is running for re-election, has the endorsement of several state representatives, current and former council members, and the Tacoma Police Union, International Union of Police Associations Local 6. Bushnell also has Washingtonians for a Better Future's endorsement. 'Council Member Bushnell is a friend of the Jewish community,' the PAC's website reads. Bushnell said he didn't solicit an endorsement from the PAC but said he wasn't surprised to see the group oppose Cook, given her support from the Democratic Socialists of America. 'The groups that are supporting my opponent have very public rhetoric that rubs a lot of folks the wrong way,' Bushnell told The News Tribune. Cook, who is Jewish, said she feels the group is going after her because of her vocal support of Palestine. 'I'm the only candidate running for city council this year that's made public comments in support of Palestine and against genocide, in alignment with my Jewish values of community repair and justice,' she told The News Tribune. 'I think this is very similar in some ways, but certainly at a smaller scale, to the attack ads that were run against Zohran [Mamdani] for being a pro-Palestine candidate that he is continuing to be,' she said of Mamdani, who recently won the Democratic primary in New York City's mayoral race. 'But like Zohran I'm intending to win by continuing to just focus on how we make life better for working people in our city.' Nevet Basker, the PAC's co-chair, told The News Tribune the group is seeking to combat antisemitism and said it was Cook's 'rhetoric against Zionism' that the PAC opposes. 'We believe that the rhetoric in some of these campaigns, including Zev Cook, creates a permission structure for antisemitism that results in issues in our own communities, in Tacoma, in this case, where the Jewish community feels unwelcome and sometimes unsafe,' Basker told The News Tribune. Basker said the PAC's concerns also go beyond those of the Jewish community, to what she described as Cook's support for abolishing the police and prisons. 'She's also a leader of an organization that advocates for abolishing prisons and all incarceration releasing, even violent criminals, murderers, rapists, back into our communities,' Basker said. 'We believe that that is unsafe for everyone.' Cook, according to her website, has served as an officer for the Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America. The group also endorsed her in the District 5 race. The Democratic Socialists of America's political platform calls for the 'abolition of the carceral state.' 'For all of the working class to achieve collective liberation we must constrain, diminish, and abolish the carceral forces of the state — from prisons and police themselves, to their manifestations in all forms throughout society,' the platform reads. Cook told The News Tribune that she doesn't think that defunding the police 'is a very good framework for understanding public policy' and instead supports specific policies like increasing funding for Tacoma's non-police crisis response team. 'Generally, I think that we as a community need to be focused more on not just addressing the symptoms, but addressing root causes when it comes to crime, which is why our platform is so focused on addressing income and housing inequality in our community,' Cook said. She said she wasn't surprised to see the PAC's efforts to oppose her campaign and said the group wouldn't have sent out the mailer if they didn't think Cook had a real shot at winning. Some commenters on Reddit said that the anti-Cook flyer made them want to vote for her even more. 'Getting an attack ad like this just tells me that they've seen how effective our campaign has been at mobilizing the support of working class Tacomans,' she added. 'It tells me that they're scared that we might win this year.' Solve the daily Crossword
Politico
16-07-2025
- Politico
Cash, clicks and cred in IL-09 showdown
Good Wednesday morning, Illinois. We stayed up sifting through Federal Election Commission reports so you wouldn't have to. TOP TALKER RACE TO WATCH: In the crowded race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the 9th Congressional District, Daniel Biss won the quarterly fundraising numbers — and a big endorsement, too. Icing on the cake: The Evanston mayor and former state legislator reported a robust $703,000 in fundraising, and he's been endorsed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Biss campaigned for her during her 2020 presidential run. The Tribune has the full story. Fundraising is important in this race. With13 declared candidates — yes, 13 — money helps set your name apart from everyone else. Modest numbers: State Sen. Laura Fine, a longtime ally and successor to Biss in the statehouse, posted a modest $262,805. To be sure, Biss and Fine entered the race as presumptive frontrunners in the district drawn for Democrats. They've walked the neighborhoods, marched in parades, shaken the hands. They know IL-09 like the back of their palms. But politics is no longer just a retail game. It's about viral moments, too. Enter Kat Abughazaleh, the social media-savvy progressive who pulled in nearly $526,000 during the second quarter — mostly from out of state. Abughazaleh also has $666,768 cash on hand at the end of the quarter, compared to Biss' $645,474 and Fine's $237,226. Abughazaleh is riding a Gen-Z wave that's also seen Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani captivate younger, more progressive voters in the New York mayor's race. There's a difference in Illinois, however. While Mamdani is embedded in his community, Abughazaleh only recently moved to the district and hasn't been steeped in local issues the way other candidates are. One world issue that's likely to become a talking point is the Israel-Hamas war, given IL-09 has a highly concentrated Jewish population along with its large Middle Eastern and Asian populations, too. It's also the home of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Other candidates in the race who also could draw young and progressive voters are Skokie's Bushra Amiwala, who made history as the youngest Muslim elected official in the U.S. and remains a symbol of the district's diversity. She raised $199,000 in the second quarter. And State Rep. Hoan Huynh and state Sen. Mike Simmons, progressives with legislative chops, only just recently entered the race. Then there's Bruce Leon, an entrepreneur and Democratic committeeman who jumpstarted his campaign with a $610,000 infusion from his own wallet — a reminder that self-funding is a strategy, too. With such a crowded field and overlapping coalitions, the battle for IL-09 is shaping up to be a political cage match. Money is important — but messaging and grassroots credibility will likely decide who survives the primary. RELATED Why the races to succeed Krishnamoorthi, Schakowsky in Congress are packed: 'Illinois is experiencing a weakening of party organizations that historically have limited competition by slating candidates and enforcing party loyalty,' by the Daily Herald's Eric Peterson. THE BUZZ EYES ON TONI: When Cook County Democrats meet Thursday and Friday to listen to candidates make their case about why they should be endorsed by the party, Toni Preckwinkle, the party chair, will be among those standing in front of her peers. The big question: Will Democratic leaders ask her tough questions about her future as Cook County Board president? Will she run through the primary and general election? Will she hold the job all four years? The answers: Yes, yes and yes, according to her political spokesperson, Scott Kastrup. Preckwinkle, 78, expects to get tough questions, he said. 'And if she's chosen by Cook County voters, she'll serve all four years. There's no daylight there.' That quashes buzz that Preckwinkle might be angling to find a way to elevate her protege, Commissioner Bill Lowry, to the county's top job. Lowry declined to comment about the speculation when we ran into him the other day. For now, Preckwinkle remains the only candidate to put her name in the running for board president. Chicago Ald. Brendan Reilly has said he's considering running, and so has former state Sen. Rickey Hendon. RELATED FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: A new poll shows Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi leading with 19 percent of the vote compared to challengers who received single-digit support. But undecided voters number a significant 60 percent. Change Research, which conducted the poll on behalf of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, views it as a 'wide open race.' The poll also shows Kaegi's favorability and job approval numbers lag behind fellow countywide electeds — Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. The details: The survey of 1,052 likely 2026 Cook County Democratic primary voters was taken June 24 through July 2. Respondents were recruited into an online survey instrument. The modeled margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 toplines are here. If you are Brendan Reilly, Playbook would like to hear from you! Email: skapos@ WHERE'S JB No official public events WHERE's BRANDON In City Hall at 8:30 a.m. for the Curfew Veto press conference and the City Council meeting at 10 a.m. Where's Toni At the Cook County Building at 6 p.m. to give opening remarks at the annual Preliminary Budget Townhall Have a tip, suggestion, birthday, new job or a (gasp!) complaint? Email skapos@ BUSINESS OF POLITICS — Susana Mendoza, the Illinois comptroller, is making an announcement today about her plans for 2026. The presser comes amid buzz that she won't seek re-election and could run for mayor. More from the Tribune's Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner. — BY THE NUMBERS: Elected officials across the state turned in their 2nd quarter fundraising numbers to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Here's what they raised from April through June: House Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch: nearly $1 million Senate President Don Harmon: $866,638 Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias: just over $1 million Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs: $268,420 Illinois Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul: $191,847 Comptroller Susana Mendoza: $84,525 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: $106,159 Ald. Bill Conway: $203,110 — In IL-02, Jesse Jackson Jr. is now forming an exploratory committee for a potential congressional campaign in the Democratic primary. In a statement, said he's taking the step in response to retired Congressman Bobby Rush and others urging him to run. The Sun-Times' Tina Sfondeles has more. — In IL-08, Dan Tully, a Democratic congressional candidate, is taking a break from the campaign for a few weeks 'to fulfill military service obligations,' he posted Tuesday. Tully is a captain in the Army Reserve and a judge advocate. — In IL-02: State Rep. La Shawn Ford and his decision to run for Congress, by the Austin Weekly News' Jessica Mordacq — State Sen. Andrew Chesney, a Republican and Freedom Caucus member from Freeport, says he'll seek re-election in the 45th District. — State Rep. Daniel Didech, a Democrat from Buffalo Grove, says he's going to run for a fifth term representing the 59th District. — Black Bench Chicago is now accepting applications for its third cohort, a six-month training program for young Black political leaders in Chicago. Black Bench was founded by political consultant Alex Sims Jones and is chaired by former Congressman Bobby Rush and activist Jacky Grimshaw. Details here THE STATEWIDES — After years of poor care, preventable deaths, Illinois is changing its prison health care provider: 'The state is backing out of its 10-year, $4 billion contract with Wexford Health Sources, but the new contractor has its own troubling track record in other states,' by WBEZ's Lauren Frost. — John Hooker, first of 'ComEd Four' to be sentenced, gets 1½ years in prison, by Capitol News' Hannah Meisel — The Illinois Freedom Caucus has filed two identical resolutions, HR427 and SR383, urging Gov. JB Pritzker to opt Illinois into the new federal school choice tax credit program created under President Donald Trump's megabill. See more under THE BUZZ. CHICAGO — Report shows big drop in Chicago police traffic stops, but sharp racial disparities persist: 'CPD made 45% fewer traffic stops in 2024, but Black and Latino drivers were four times more likely than white drivers to be pulled over,' by WBEZ's Chip Mitchell. — Chicago 'granny flats,' coach houses move a step closer to citywide legalization: Advocates say it could create more affordable housing, by the Tribune's Jake Sheridan. — Measure to opt out 2 Northwest Side wards from an anti-gentrification zone will now go before the full City Council, by the Block Club's Ariel Parrella-Aureli — Chicago to be flagship city for nationwide 'Good Trouble' protests denouncing Trump, by the Sun-Times' Janani Jana — Calls show CPD knew federal immigration agents were asking for help: 'An officer in the department's 'fusion' center told 911 dispatchers Homeland Security Investigations — a division of ICE—were calling for help. He also wanted to avoid media attention,' by Southside Weekly's Jim Daley. — 'The Bear' gets 13 Emmy nominations, including directing nod for actress Ayo Edebiri, by Block Club's Gwen Ihnat COOK COUNTY AND COLLARS — Chaperone policy reinstated at Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor Chicago, by the Daily Herald's Mick Zawislak TAKING NAMES — Neil Shubin, a professor of biology and anatomy at University of Chicago, has been nominated as the next president of the National Academy of Sciences. His term as president will start June 30, 2026, via UChicago News. Reader Digest We asked Which historical politician would have had the most Instagram followers. Mark Batinick: 'Ben Franklin!' Mimi Cowan: 'Stephen Douglas, a total showman.' John Engle: 'Huey Long — a man with so much rizz that even FDR was scared of him.' John Fritchey: 'Abraham Lincoln because he was famous for his headshot.' Gregory Koeppen: 'JFK - @AskNotWhatYourInstaCanDo. Beach pics, vintage Kennedy reels, and shots of Jackie that break the internet.' Laura Kotelman: 'Teddy Roosevelt! The youngest president, all that hiking and conservation work, assassination attempt, the Teddy Bear, etc.' Mike Mahoney: 'Betty Loren-Maltese would have had a lucrative career doing hair and makeup tutorials if Instagram was around in the 1990s.' Jeff Nathan: 'Marie Antoinette.' Jennifer Olaya: 'Former Philippines Presidents Corazon Aquino and Ferdinand Marcos (from most admirable to least).' Terry Poulos: 'JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy would be by far the power political.' Omari Prince: 'JFK would have the most followers on Instagram.' Alison Pure-Slovin: 'President Abraham Lincoln for his Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address.' Timothy Thomas: 'Cyrus the Great, the head of the First Persian Empire, which comprised nearly 50 percent of the world's population in 550 or so BC.' Jon Zahm: 'President Theodore Roosevelt. His wit, outdoor adventures and robust family life would blow up IG.' NEXT QUESTION: If the two major political parties were pizza, what toppings would they have? THE NATIONAL TAKE — Illinois public broadcasters in Chicago, and especially downstate, fear impact as Senate vote to cut funding looms, by Daniel C. Vock for the Tribune — How Elon Musk's X is fueling the MAGA-Trump split, by POLITICO's Aaron Mak — The MAGA blowup over Pam Bondi has been a long time coming, by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein and Hailey Fuchs TRANSITIONS — Maggie Angel is joining Gov. JB Pritzker's office in D.C. as director of federal affairs. She was a legislative assistant for Sen. Dick Durbin. IN MEMORIAM — Richard J. Guidice, a former state senator and lobbyist, has died, via obituary TRIVIA TUESDAY's ANSWER: Congrats to Robert Barry for correctly answering that former state Sen. Bradley Glass was an all-American football player and NCAA heavyweight national champion at Princeton University. TODAY's QUESTION: Who was the LaSalle County state's attorney who went on to govern Michigan? Email skapos@ HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jewish United Fund Chief of Staff Jim Rosenberg, House Appropriations' Member Services Director Marcus Towns II, American Medical Association comms VP Justin DeJong, leadership consultant Ginny Clarke, Impact Research VP Madeline Conway, entrepreneur Victoria Rivka Zell, New Trier Chief Comms Officer Niki Dizon and POLITICO cybersecurity engineer Kalon Makle. And a belated greeting to Chicago Board of Education member Ebony DeBerry, who celebrated Tuesday. -30-
Chicago Tribune
16-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorses Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in crowded 9th Congressional District primary
Evanston Mayor and former state legislator Daniel Biss' progressive credentials got a boost Wednesday with an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Illinois' increasingly crowded 9th Congressional District Democratic primary race. Warren, a three-term senator from Massachusetts and briefly a front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, announced she was backing Biss in a statement shared with the Tribune in which she praised the two-term mayor as 'a relentless fighter for working people who can help deliver the structural change our country needs right now.' 'As Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans continue to shred public services and rig the economy for the wealthy, we need progressive champions like Daniel in Congress to take on billionaires and powerful corporations, lower costs on essentials like health care and housing, and root out the corruption that keeps government working for the few instead of the many,' Warren said, referencing the president's 'Make America Great Again' slogan. While the value of candidate endorsements is debatable, the nod from Warren could carry some extra weight as more than a dozen candidates vie for the chance to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat who announced in May that she would not seek a 15th term representing a district covering parts of the North Side, North Shore and northwest suburbs. Schakowsky, like Biss, was among numerous Illinois Democrats who backed Warren for the party's presidential nomination in 2020. The senator dropped out less than two weeks before the Illinois' primary after finishing poorly in earlier state contests. Biss, who campaigned for Warren in Iowa ahead of the 2020 caucuses alongside Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs and then-Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, in a statement called her 'an inspiration to me and so many others as one of the most effective, boldest progressive leaders in our nation.' He said he was 'honored to have her backing in this race.' 'Senator Warren is a leader in this fight to take power from the billionaires and big corporations and put it back in the hands of the people, and I would be honored to work alongside her in Congress,' Biss said. Biss, who just won a second term as mayor in Evanston in April, also has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and several current and former state lawmakers, including Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago and Rep. Marty Beth Canty and Sen. Mark Walker, both of Arlington Heights, all of whom represent portions of the 9th District. After eight years in the Illinois House and Senate, Biss ran unsuccessfully in the 2018 primary for governor, angling for the progressive lane in a race against now-Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt Hotels heir, and Chris Kennedy, a wealthy scion of the Democratic Party's de facto royal family. Coincidentally, Pritzker's first campaign for public office was an unsuccessful Democratic primary bid in the 9th District in 1998, when he finished third in a race won by Schakowsky, who's held the seat since winning the general election that fall. A former assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, Biss was first elected Evanston mayor in 2021 and has supported the city's first-in-the-nation housing reparations program, while rankling some residents with his tie-breaking vote in 2023 to approve an agreement with Northwestern University for its new football stadium. Among those also seeking the nomination in the heavily Democratic district are Biss' replacement in the state legislature, state Sen. Laura Fine of Glenview; state Rep. Hoan Huynh and state Sen. Mike Simmons of Chicago's North Side; progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh, a newcomer to Illinois; and Bushra Amiwala, a board member in Skokie School District 73.5 who was one of the first Gen Z elected officials in the U.S.
