Politics

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss Announces Bid to Replace US Rep. Jan Schakowsky

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who was just elected to serve a second term, announced on Thursday he will run to represent Illinois’ 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, a little more than a week after U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky announced she would not run for reelection.

Biss, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018, joins state Sen. Laura Fine, of Glenview, and progressive media star Kat Abughazaleh in the increasingly crowded race to replace Schakowsky, who represented the district for 14 terms.

“I am running for Congress to stand up to Donald Trump and his MAGA cronies,” Biss said in a statement. “I’ve never backed down from a fight, and I’ve won some big ones — on LGBTQ+ rights, campaign finance reform, protecting abortion access, defending the environment and more. In Congress, I’ll take on billionaires and corporate power, lower costs for working families and fight tooth and nail to protect our civil rights.”

Watch Biss’ announcement video.

“We are living in an unimaginable hellscape,” Biss said in his announcement video, where he speaks directly to a camera from what appears to be a kitchen as upbeat music plays. “No more obeying in advance.”

A former mathematics professor at the University of Chicago, Biss served as a member of the Illinois House and Senate for eight years before vying for the Democratic nomination for governor, finishing a distant second to Gov. JB Pritzker.

Biss, who lives in Evanston with his wife, Karin, and two children, Arya and Sparrow, has represented parts of the congressional district that stretches from Chicago’s North Side through northwest Cook County to southwest Lake County and southeast McHenry County in state and local office for nearly 14 years.

Biss, 47, won a second term as Evanston mayor with nearly 63% of the vote on April 1 after breaking a tie on the Evanston City Council to approve a deal to replace Northwestern University’s football stadium with an $800 million facility that can host as many as six concerts per year. In return, Northwestern will provide Evanston with $157 million over a 15-year period in tax revenue and other financial incentives.

During that campaign, Biss promised voters he would serve all four years as mayor if reelected, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In 2021, shortly after Biss took office, Evanston became the first city in the nation to offer reparations. At first, the program offered Black residents of Evanston $25,000 that could be used for a down payment on a home or for repairs. In 2023, with Biss’ support, the program expanded to offer $25,000 direct cash payments to Black residents who lived in Evanston during a 50-year period of discriminatory zoning laws and their direct descendants.

That program is being challenged in court, and Biss did not mention it in his announcement.

In March, the Evanston City Council approved an ordinance that calls for 500 of the city’s largest buildings to be powered by renewable energy sources by 2050. However, that plan relies on a grant that could be yanked by the Trump administration.

Fine, 58, who replaced Biss in the Illinois Senate in 2019, is the chair of the Illinois Senate committee with jurisdiction over mental health and vice chair of the committee on insurance.

Abughazaleh, 26, who rose to prominence by making lively TikTok videos critiquing Fox News and Republicans, has more than $363,600 on hand, according to federal records. Abughazaleh, who moved to Chicago less than a year ago, does not live in the 9th District and plans to move there in the coming months.

The Democratic primary is scheduled to take place March 17, 2026.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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