Illinois 9th District voters choose between Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Arlington Heights pastor John Elleson

Illinois voters in the 9th District have the choice on Election Day between Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and Arlington Heights pastor John Elleson to replace longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky in Congress. 

Schakowsky announced her retirement in May and ignited one of the most hotly contested Democratic primaries in the Chicago area, with Biss coming out on top of a 15-candidate field with 29.4% of the vote. Elleson defeated three other candidates to win his place ont he ballot.

Biss framed his campaign around immigration, affordability and protecting democracy. He served as mayor of Evanston starting in 2021 and before that was an Illinois state lawmaker, spending six years in the Illinois Senate from 2013 to 2019 and two years in the Illinois House from 2011 to 2013. He ran for governor in 2018 and came in second in the Democratic primary, behind Gov. JB Pritzker. 

Elleson, a pastor in Arlington Heights, has run as a Republican for the 9th District twice before, in 2018 and 2022. In 2018 he lost to Schakowsky by a wide margin; in 2022 he was removed from the ballot for failing to collect enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions. His 2026 campaign has focused on curbing violence, immigration and stopping democratic socialism. 

The 9th District covers the Far North Side of Chicago up to the North Shore and then bends sharply west to Crystal Lake and Algonquin. It has not elected a Republican since 1946.