Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss defeated two strong competitors in the Democratic primary to replace longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in Illinois’s 9th District on Tuesday night.
The Associated Press called the race for Bliss at 10:36 p.m., over two hours after the polls closed. Bliss won with 29.6% of the vote, with progressive Kat Abughazaleh coming in second place with 25.6% of the vote. Democratic state Sen. Laura Fine came in third with 20.4%.
Illinois operates under a plurality system, meaning the person with the most votes wins even if they receive less than 50% of the vote.
Schakowsky had endorsed Bliss as her successor. Bliss also received endorsements from Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
This is the mayor’s second attempt at a higher office, after losing a 2018 bid for governor against Pritzker.
Unlike the Senate race, the 9th District’s Democratic primary was a target of allies of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobbying group. AIPAC had heightened its attacks against Bliss throughout the primary, which was originally intended Fine, their preferred candidate.
But the attacks allowed Abughazaleh, a progressive, Palestinian American, and a vocal critic of Israel, to gain significant momentum in the final days of the race, so AIPAC pulled back all of its anti-Bliss messaging, per Politico.
Despite a second place finish, Abughazaleh’s results capped off a strong, grassroots campaign that she launched before Schakowsky, 81, officially announced she would not seek a 15th term in Congress. Abughazaleh gained national attention when she was arrested on federal charges for protesting outside an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois.
Bliss will face Republican John Elleson in the general election in November. The race is considered a safe Democrat seat.
