A race for a safe blue seat tests how far left Democrats want new leaders to go

On an overcast Saturday in Evanston, Ill., as local union members file into a small campaign office, sip coffee and get ready to go canvass, a classic campaign scene begins to take shape. 

“This group of people here this morning is the best reminder of what’s at stake,” said Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston. “We are in a crisis for working people in this country.”

He’s running to represent the state’s 9th congressional district, an area that includes Evanston and a stretch of the north side of Chicago. It’s been held by Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 81, for the last 27 years. But her impending retirement opens up a rare vacancy, and Biss is one of 15 Democrats vying to succeed her, with top candidates spanning three generations, from Gen X and millennials to Gen Z.

The race for this safe blue seat comes as many within the Democratic base are calling for change within their party, with some demanding a new generation of leaders. In Illinois’ primary on Tuesday, residents in this district will help decide what  the next chapter of Democratic leadership might look like. 

“I would say that the transition from Jan Schakowsky to me is one of generational change, for sure,” Biss said in an interview. 

Biss, who is 48 and Gen X, leads in local polls and has the backing of Schakowsky, as well as other party leaders like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. As supporters head out to knock on doors, he argues he’s most equipped to meet this moment. 

“There’s nobody else who’s done both things that I think we need right now,” he said. “Fought and won inside of government, making real change, and fought and won out on the streets as an activist. And I just don’t think we can afford to compromise on either of those two things.”

Seara Clayborn, 30, is with Operating Engineers Local 150. She’s voted for Schakowsky since she was 18. This year she’s backing Biss. 

“I like his idea of progressive change in moderation because a lot of things that are currently in place, we have to go through the processes to get them dismantled, to reconstruct them,” she said. “I feel like a lot of times when we think of younger progressives, we’re thinking like it needs to happen right now and that’s just not ideal for most things.”

Biss has pushed for Democrats to fight harder against President Trump’s agenda and advocate more aggressively for solutions to high costs. But in this district, where the primary is more competitive than the general, policies aren’t what’s dividing the field. Instead, it’s over to what extent candidates want to scrap party norms both in office and on the campaign trail.

A challenge from a newcomer

At Kat Abughazaleh’s campaign office on the north side of Chicago, there’s a pile of t-shirts that say, “What if we didn’t suck?” 

“There is so much — not just in this race — but across the country that we’re seeing from establishment candidates where they would make a fine congressman in 2014,” she said. “But it’s not 2014. It’s 2026, and I act like it.”

Abughazaleh, who’s running to the left of Biss, is a 26-year-old first-time candidate with a background as a progressive researcher and commentator covering far-right political figures. 

She’s faced concerns over her knowledge of the area, having only moved to Chicago in 2024 and initially lived in a neighborhood outside the district.

However, after nearly a year of campaigning, she’s become one of the most high-profile candidates in the race. She’s gained traction through a large and active online presence, is polling second to Biss and leads in fundraising. 

The campaign is also using a non-traditional ground game. In addition to typical outreach like phone banking and canvassing, the campaign has turned the front of its office into a mutual aid site. There’s a rack of coats and jackets right by the entrance, along with shelves of folded clothes, nonperishable food and toiletries, all labeled in both English and Spanish and available for anyone who comes in.

They’ve also tried to be creative in what events they organize. Abughazaleh hosts weekly knitting circles, and at a recent one, around a dozen people showed up with their needles and yarn, ready to talk politics.

“I think that the Democratic Party right now needs to stop trying to make everyone happy … they need to just own whatever it is they’re going to fight for. They’re waffling,” supporter Monica Morris, 33, says as she knits. “The focus is on ‘people pleasing’ versus actually getting something done.” 

Though many residents in the district say age isn’t a deciding factor in their vote, some supporters at the event, like Morris, acknowledge they do share generational experiences, especially when navigating financial concerns.

“There are issues that are affecting millennials and Gen Z that did not affect boomers, for example, student loans. I have a horrendous amount of student debt and I’m not able to save for retirement,” Morris said. 

As Abughazaleh worked on a purple hat for one of her supporters, she says Democrats have failed to hold their ground when pushing for change in Washington. 

“Bipartisanship is negotiating different approaches to a similar goal. I think that goal should be: everyone can afford housing, groceries and health care with money left over to save and spend. I think that is the true center,” she said. “We can’t just look at compromise as getting your hand cut off and being grateful they left you your pinky.”

It echoes a broader anti-establishment rhetoric being championed by some younger and progressive politicians around the country. Notably, last year, Zohran Mamdani successfully ran on that message to become mayor of New York, engaging with base voters who had felt disconnected from the party. 

But to Abughazaleh, the Democratic Party is “terrified” of progressive populist ideas. 

“It means risking power. It means not being able to have a stranglehold on donors and on re-elections,” she adds. “If [Democrats] actually wanted to have your name live on in a way that’s positive, you would be uplifting the ‘Mamdanis ‘ of the world and not trying to shut them down.”

At the front of the office, Jim Kress drops off donations for the mutual aid site. 

“I’m just one person of a million that’s struggling,” said Kress, who is in his late thirties and recently lost his job. “I just don’t think that most congresspeople are seeing those things. They’re talking to donors.”

Kress voted for Biss in 2018 when he ran for governor, but now says he’s supporting Abughazaleh, referring to the Evanston mayor as “typical neo liberal Democratic establishment.”

The role of special interest dollars

Tuesday’s primary comes as a broader debate rages within the Democratic party about the influence of special interest groups, especially pro-Israel groups like AIPAC. In this race, individuals and groups aligned with AIPAC have reported spending millions in support of another candidate, state Sen. Laura Fine, who is Jewish, and polling third behind Abughazaleh, who is Palestinian American and has rejected money from such groups. 

Biss, who is Jewish, has denounced AIPAC, but has disclosed meeting with the group towards the start of his campaign. He has faced criticism for not taking a clearer stance on whether he opposes sending U.S. aid to Israel. While Abughazaleh has characterized the war as a genocide against Palestinians, Biss has refrained from doing the same. Both candidates have been the subject of attack spending by AIPAC-linked forces. 

Even with the current spending dynamics, Biss appears best positioned to win this primary, according to Jerry Morrison, a retired political consultant who managed Schakowsky’s 1998 campaign. 

“Evanston is a big town – 80,000 people – very, very liberal and very affluent, which means they’re going to vote in big numbers, and I think they’re going to vote overwhelmingly for Daniel,” he said.

Surveying the field, Morrisson is doubtful there’s a candidate who can top Biss – especially a challenger running further to the left. However, if she were to pull off an upset, Morrison argues it would mark a striking shift in what issues base voters prioritize in primaries.

“Ten years ago, if someone would have parachuted into a district like this and tried to run for the seat, they would have been a single-digit candidate,” he said. “It is an interesting dynamic that primary voters have become so ideological.”

“Trust can only be earned with time” 

These candidates may have captured significant attention, but 28-year-old local organizer and progressive candidate Bushra Amiwala is committed to representing her hometown in Congress. She has sought to chart a more middle course between establishment Democrat and progressive firebrand.

Running down the platform at Howard Station in Chicago, she just barely makes it onboard before the train doors close. Headed towards the suburbs, she looks out the window and spots three houses with yard signs supporting her campaign. 

“We’re in home base right now,” she said. “There is just so much that makes this place so special and that care cannot be replicated or bought.” 

Her political ties date back years. At 21, she won a seat on her local school board, becoming one of the first Gen Zers elected to office and the youngest Muslim elected official in the U.S.

But in this packed primary race, she’s struggled to break through, trailing all three top candidates in local polling.

Instead, she’s hoping a grassroots, local message can bring her to victory.

“People listen to those who they know and who they trust,” Amiwala said, touting roughly 20 visits to nursing homes and senior living facilities, as well as to nearly every high school, college and university in the district. 

“Trust can only be earned with time,” she added. “There is nothing you can do to overcompensate that piece, and trust is what is most lost among the Democrats today.”