New Illinois congressional candidates make cases as veterans leave

Election Day 2026 is less than a month away, and control of Congress is on the line, with a huge number of Illinois members of Congress leaving.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Reps. Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) are among those retiring.

For 27 years, Schakowsky has represented Illinois' 9th District — which stretches from Chicago's north lakefront into the north and northwest suburbs and then northwest all the way to McHenry County. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss is running to succeed her on the Democratic side, with Arlington Heights pastor John Elleson facing him on the Republican side.

The candidates have staked out dramatically differing positions on many issues, including immigration. Biss called for fighting for immigrants and refugees, and accused the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President Trump of "terrorizing" them.

"Illinois 9 is a district for immigrants and refugees, has been for a very long time — people from literally all over the world — in a moment where Donald Trump is weaponizing ICE and CBP to attack our communities, abduct our neighbors, terrorize people," said Biss, "and so they want someone who's going to go not only fight for comprehensive immigration reform, but fight back against these grotesque and outrageous and illegal violent excesses."

But Elleson said the law must be respected.

"We have illegals in our church every Sunday, and they'll never come in. We'll never allow police to come in our church, but government's different. Government has to do their job. And you know, if I get a speeding ticket when I go there [and say]: 'I'm a pastor! Let me go!' you can't do that," he said. "So I believe that we have to have secure borders. I really do."

Elleson also said he supported Israel amid the war in Gaza — though not unconditionally.

"We've got to support Israel. Come on. We got to support Israel. I just think that, you know, we have a pact. They've been through a lot," he said. "Now, if they do something wrong, we don't got to rubber-stamp everything they do. But no, I think you've got to support them. They're in a tough region."

But Biss said the relationship between Israel and the U.S. needs to change.

"The U.S. has traditionally treated Israel kind of unlike any other country, right? Israel is a wealthy, developed economy that gets the type of military aid that no other country like it gets," he said. "That should be phased out."

On the war with Iran, Biss said the Trump administration should never have gotten involved.

"The Trump administration made a catastrophic mistake. They were basically blurry in their thinking, right?" he said. "They had this completely absurd, naïve idea that did not make sense to people who knew the situation that: 'Hey, we're just going to go in. It's going to be easy. We're going to effectuate regime change.' That was never going to work."

Elleson spoke in support of the U.S. efforts in Iran, and said President Trump should have stuck to a program.

"I don't like this back-and-forth talk, 'Oh, we're going to blow 'em up,' one day, and then this. I get lost there," he said. "If we could strike a deal, let's strike a deal."

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois) is leaving her seat after a failed run in the Democratic primary to replace Sen. Durbin. Kelly's 2nd Congressional District stretches from the high-rises of Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood through the rest of the South Side and south suburbs, and downstate all the way to the farms of Danville.

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller (D-6th) is running for the seat on the Democratic side, while Kankakee County truck driver Mike Noack is running on the Republican side. The candidates agreed that the average American is struggling in the face of high prices and costs, with Miller focusing on health care.

"One of the first things is to put the Affordable Care Act back in place. All of the cuts — the $880 billion worth of cuts that this administration put forth — are affecting everyday people. We have to put those back," she said. "But I also believe in the conversation around preventative care, so we have to have expansive issues that come into the affordability for health care."

Noack agreed that there is a need to "get a hold of the health care system, while also noting consumer prices.

"We need to get a hold of the economy in ways that make a different. So like gasoline prices, they're killing us. We've got to try to get them to bring down the prices, somehow," he said. "I mean, they don't need to make record profits every year. I mean, that's down on the back of the people."

Miller said she has also spent a lot of time in rural communities listening to farmers.

"What I hear mostly from them is that they are concerned about the legacy of their farms. They're concerned about being able to do business in this country and outside of this country," she said. "I want to work on the Farm Bill when I get to Congress. That's something that has not also been focused on in many years."

Noack added that the "defunding of schools has to stop."

"I don't necessarily think that private schools are the answer. I mean, it's an answer for a lot of people, and private schools are good," he said. "But we still need to focus on the public schools too."

Miller also called for stronger guardrails on artificial intelligence. Noack called for building more hydroelectric dams.

Loss of veteran Illinois congresspeople will have an effect, experts say

As to the overall loss of members of the Illinois congressional delegation with all their power, experience and seniority, former CBS Chicago political reporter Derrick Blakley said it will have an effect on what the Illinois delegation can get done.

"Well, it means it's going to be harder to bring home the bacon, because seniority is crucial, especially in the House. You talk about career politicians, but career politicians in Congress are the people who have the clout to get things done, make decisions — funding for things like transportation, social programs — very important to the city," Blakley said. "So we lose that, and that is a loss."

Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said the challenges the Illinois delegation will face with the loss of its veteran members will not necessarily be so dramatic as to mean a loss of highway projects or train line expansions. But he noted that the veteran members sit on committees with a lot of power.

"Jan Schaokwsky was on Energy and Commerce forever. That's where everything goes through; Ways and Means, all these major committees. So we'll have less of a voice," he said. "I don't know how much impact it's going to have. We still have a very good congressional delegation — we have Mike Quigley, Nikki Budinskki, and some others that kind of fill in the void. But it's a big loss."