Evanston Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma picked as acting mayor

The north Chicago suburb of Evanston has selected an acting mayor.

Evanston Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) was picked as acting mayor on Monday night to succeed Mayor Daniel Biss.

Biss resigned last weekend, as he runs as the Democratic nominee for Illinois' 9th Congressional District in next week's midterm election.

The 9th District seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois), who is retiring. Biss is facing Republican Jon Elleson, a pastor in Arlington Heights.

Biss was elected mayor of Evanston in 2021, receiving Schakowsky's endorsement. He had previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate, and had made an unsuccessful run for U.S. House in 2008 and the Democratic primary for Illinois governor in 2018.

Nieuwsma was elected to the Evanston City Council in the same election that produced Biss as mayor. He previously served eight years on the Evanston Utilities Commission, appointed by Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and reappointed by Mayor Steve Hagerty.

Johnson was also a founding board member and later president of the environmental nonprofit Citizens' Greener Evanston.