The Tribune editorial board is making endorsements on both the Democratic and Republican sides of contested primary races for the U.S. Congress in Illinois. This is Part One.
1st District
Democrat Jonathan Jackson, the incumbent, is running unopposed on his side of the ticket in this overwhelmingly Democratic district, which includes much of the South Side of Chicago and continues southwest to Joliet.
On the Republican side, the contest is between 65-year-old Marcus Lewis, a retiree who has not previously held elected office but has run previously for Congress on seven occasions, and 41-year-old Montelle Gaji, a pre-law student and, she told us, both a cancer survivor and a woman with a disability.
Lewis is an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump, favoring his rhetoric and all-caps communicative style. He says that he does not believe Joe Biden was duly elected president in 2020, which is a disqualifying position for us. He also supports “mass deportations” of migrants and opposes aid for Ukraine. We judge Lewis not qualified and a potential danger to the health of our democracy if elected.
Gaji is clearly the stronger of the candidates, which is not saying much. While she does not support aiding Ukraine (or, indeed, any other foreign nation), she at least recognizes the results of the 2020 election. However, she does not support even sensible gun control.
Nonetheless, many Republicans will like her firm positions on avoiding unnecessary spending, and we at least have the sense she would fight hard for the people of the South Side and for those who have special needs. “I would get the people more involved,” she told us. “I would be a liaison to make sure they feel like have a safe space to express themselves.” Gaji is endorsed.
4th District
The race in this majority Latino district, which covers the Chicago neighborhoods of Brighton Park, West Elsdon and South Lawndale as well as such suburbs as Burbank, Berwyn, Cicero, Brookfield, La Grange Park, Northlake, and Melrose Park, is between the incumbent (and former mayoral candidate) Jesús “Chuy” García, 67, and 45-year-old Chicago alderman Raymond Lopez, 15th.
Both have made some history. García, a member of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, was the first Mexican American from the Midwest to serve in Congress. Lopez claims the mantle of being the first openly gay Mexican American to be elected in Illinois.
García has brought home bacon for his home state: he takes credit for $8.1 billion through the CARES Act, $18.6 billion through the American Rescue Plan, $17 billion through the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, $18 billion through the Inflation Reduction Act and another $37.6 million for 25 community projects in the his district. García told us he has been “working hard with the mayors of the suburban community” and he plans to keep delivering especially in the areas of “infrastructure and environmental justice.”
His top priority in a new term? “Economic opportunity,” he said, although he ticked off many other concerns including women’s reproductive rights. “Public safety is a concern in city and suburbs, and people want us to keep pushing for common-sense gun regulation,” García said, “and I will be a part of that.”
Lopez has been involved in Chicago politics on the Southwest Side from the time he was 18 years old. He also worked as a skycap for Southwest Airlines for 12 years, not something many congresspeople can claim. He has been a persistent thorn in the side of Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson. He’s known as one of the smartest and best prepared members of City Council, but also as someone who likes publicity (a nickname is “Showpez”).
Lopez has carved out a different position on immigration reform than García, claiming that the incumbent’s support for “open borders” hurts those Mexican Americans already here and awaiting adjudication on legal residency or citizenship. In general, Lopez supports more centrist positions than García (who has been strikingly non-supportive of Israel) with values in line with ours. To wit, Lopez is in favor of U.S. aid to Ukraine and Israel; has stood strongly against Hamas and the aggression of Vladimir Putin; believes in bipartisan immigration reform with particular attention to DACA kids, and is supportive of reproductive freedoms.
Democratic voters in the 4th District have to choose between the experienced and likable García, whose position on such panels as the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has helped bring federal dollars to his district but who is coming off a notably lackluster showing when he ran last year for mayor of Chicago, and Lopez, an independent-minded moderate who would likely shake things up both at home and in Washington.
Lopez, who wisely argued that he is now the grass-roots candidate that Garcia once was, told us he knows he’s “not everyone’s cup of tea’ but said that it’s important political moderates learn to “shout louder than the crazies” on both political extremes. “We have to focus on what brings us together as Americans,” he said. “It’s easier to be part of the go-along-to-get-along gang than to be an independent thinker.”
With all due respect to García, whose service we admire, we’re trusting Lopez this time around with the caveat that we expect to see him develop a more measured and deliberative approach to leadership and keep his personal ambition in check and subjugated to serving residents of the district. We think he knows this: “The people of this district want a pragmatic congressperson” he said. “They want an effective leader in Congress who has the ability not only to speak to his own caucus but to the opposition.”
We wish him good luck with that. Lopez is endorsed.
6th District
Illinois’ 6th District covers all or some of the Chicago neighborhoods of Beverly, Mount Greenwood, Garfield Ridge and Clearing as well as all or part of the suburban communities of Orland Hills, Western Springs, Orland Park, Palos Hills, Hickory Hills, Chicago Ridge, Bridgeview, Willow Springs, Indian Head Park, Tinley Park and Evergreen Park. The Democratic primary contest is between incumbent Sean Casten and challengers Mahnoor Ahmad and Charles Hughes,
The impressive Casten, 52, is a former clean energy entrepreneur who gave our detailed policy questions thoughtful, moderate and smart responses. He’s a true believer, and an important national leader, when it comes to the perils of climate change, an issue he sees as being at the root of many societal problems. Casten is a man who values data and follows scientific findings and does not merely parrot party positions. “My priorities in Congress,” he told us, “include advancing economic opportunity, codifying women’s reproductive rights, creating safer, affordable, and healthy communities, fixing the broken immigration system, restoring environmental justice regulations, and protecting the right to the ballot box.” All good things.
Ahmad, 33, is a public health director who certainly doesn’t have a comparable level of political experience. Her slate of progressive positions includes a belief in an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. She describes herself as being “a vocal advocate for protecting young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.” Hughes, 60, is an operation tech for Nicor Gas who is campaigning on raising Social Security checks for seniors and is against sensible gun control. He is running far to the right of Casten.
Casten is endorsed.
District 7
A much-watched race is taking place in the 7th District, which covers all or part of the Loop, Armour Square, Fuller Park, the Near West Side, East and West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, West Englewood, the Near South Side, Austin, Humboldt Park, Englewood, Near North, West Town, Douglas, Grand Boulevard and Chicago Lawn, as well as all or part of the Cook County communities of Oak Park, Westchester, Broadview, Bellwood, Maywood, Forest Park, Hillside and La Grange Park.
On the Democratic side of the ticket is veteran congressman Danny Davis, first elected to the House in 1996 and now 82 years old and surely running for the last time. We’ve endorsed Davis, who works hard for his constituents, many times before.
His challengers are Melissa Conyears-Ervin, Kouri Marshall, Nikhil Bhatia and Kina Collins.
The Tribune Editorial Board has judged Conyears-Ervin, 48, a former member of the Illinois House of Representatives, unfit to serve as city treasurer, her current job. Our view flowed from the city’s Board of Ethics saying there was probable cause to find that Conyears-Ervin violated Chicago’s ethics code when she summarily fired two staffers after they raised internal concerns about her actions — specifically, asking employees to do personal tasks and errands for her on taxpayer-funded time. Tribune reporting also made the case that Conyears-Ervin pressured BMO, Chicago’s second largest bank by deposits, to make a sweetheart loan to the pastor of the church she and her husband, Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, attend. BMO holds city deposits, making the conflict of interest clear.
The office of city treasurer does not exist for the officeholder’s personal benefit.
Self-evidently, then, we do not believe Conyears-Ervin is fit for Congress. Given the absence of specific explanations for these allegations, at least beyond general assertions of ethical integrity, we urge our readers to look elsewhere.
Kina Collins, 32, a staunch progressive born and raised in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, describes herself as a “lifelong activist and nationally recognized gun violence prevention and health care advocate.” She also challenged Davis in 2022, losing in the Democratic primary that year, although not by that much. Despite our disagreements, we applaud her persistence and her thorough and reasoned answers to our questions, but she doesn’t have a comparable level of experience to Davis. Bhatia, a longtime Chicago Public Schools teacher who has only a limited campaign operation, is similarly inexperienced, although we appreciated his focus on public safety.
That leaves Marshall, 41, who was deputy director of agency personnel and executive appointments in the office of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a post he no longer holds.
Davis is a still vital institution and, at this juncture, we see him as the best choice for Democrats in this primary.
Davis is endorsed.
