Why I'm Voting For Daniel Biss

How I Chose My Candidate in the IL-9 Primary

For the first time in more than thirty years, my hometown district, IL-9, is holding an open-seat primary. The district has been represented by Jan Schakowsky for almost my entire life. After she announced her retirement, 16 candidates entered the race.

We’ve never written about a local primary on this page before, and it’s probably something we’ll never do again. But this contest felt worth discussing.

Because Illinois holds one of the earliest primaries in the country, the outcome here could shape how similar races unfold elsewhere.

And this primary had all the ingredients of a classic Democratic clash: an AIPAC-backed candidate, a progressive stalwart, and a social media influencer with millions of followers.

Primaries force voters to wrestle with difficult questions. When candidates largely agree on policy, how do you decide? What values matter most? What trade-offs are acceptable? What kind of leadership does this moment call for?

Those questions aren’t unique to this district. Voters across the country will face similar choices in the months ahead.

So rather than writing a traditional endorsement, I want to do something slightly different: walk through how my thinking evolved during this campaign, and how I ultimately decided to vote for Daniel Biss.

My Criteria

Going into the race, I had two clear red lines.

The first was Israel and Gaza.

At this point, I believe the situation in Gaza must be described honestly. What is happening there is a genocide. Any candidate unwilling to acknowledge that reality, condemn Israel’s actions, or willing to accept money from AIPAC while avoiding that truth lacks the moral clarity to represent me in Congress.

The second was immigration, ICE, and the defense of due process.

I wasn’t looking for careful triangulation or the kind of centrist throat-clearing politicians often use to soften difficult positions. I wanted someone clear-eyed and direct—someone willing to confront the abuses happening within our immigration system, challenge ICE when necessary, and defend constitutional protections without hesitation.

Beyond those two red lines, I was looking for something else. I wanted to support a candidate who would challenge the party establishment, bring new energy to the Democratic coalition, and communicate effectively in today’s political and media environment.

Based on those criteria, two candidates with a real shot of winning rose to the front for me: Kat Abugazaleh and Daniel Biss.

AIPAC Enters the Race

The dominant storyline in this race, and in several others across Illinois, has been AIPAC’s involvement.

Early in the campaign, it became clear that AIPAC viewed victories by Daniel Biss or Kat Abugazaleh as undesirable. In response, the organization threw its support behind State Senator Laura Fine, spending millions through a dark-money Super PAC to boost her campaign. That decision quickly became the central story of the race and began attracting national attention.

But AIPAC’s involvement appears to have backfired, and in doing so, it may have delivered an important lesson for Democratic candidates across the country.

Laura Fine entered the race as one of the clear front-runners. As the sitting state senator representing a district that overlaps significantly with the congressional seat, she was well known in the community and generally well regarded by voters. But as the campaign unfolded, AIPAC’s support increasingly defined her candidacy. Recent polling suggests her approval rating has dropped by roughly 23 points, leaving her with a net approval rating of –22. If those numbers hold, it represents a dramatic political collapse for a well-established legislator.

For Democrats watching this race around the country, the lesson may be simple: AIPAC money might look like a gift, but it can quickly become a curse.

Why I Initially Supported Kat

At the beginning of the campaign, my support went to Kat Abugazaleh.

I donated to her campaign and was genuinely excited about what she represented. She embodies a generation that grew up politically in the shadow of the Iraq War, the financial crisis, and the rise of social media. Her ability to communicate directly with large online audiences felt like a glimpse of what a different kind of political leadership might look like.

Like many voters, I’ve grown frustrated with the way politics operates in Washington. Too many politicians feel cautious, overly scripted, and overly dependent on donors. The system feels stuck, and it’s easy to believe that sending a completely different kind of person to Congress might help shake it loose.

Kat represented that possibility, the idea that someone outside the traditional political pipeline could disrupt a political culture that many voters feel has grown stagnant. At the start of this race, that felt exactly like what I wanted.

How My Thinking Shifted

I’ve known Daniel Biss much longer than Kat Abugazaleh. Kat moved into the district only a few months before announcing her candidacy. Biss, by contrast, has been part of this community for decades.

At first glance, Biss looks like the kind of candidate many voters say they want less of. He has spent most of his career in politics, serving as a state representative, a state senator, and now as the mayor of Evanston. In an era when “career politician” has become shorthand for everything people dislike about government, that résumé can sound like a liability.

Over the course of this campaign, I’ve come to see that experience itself isn’t the problem. The real question is what someone does with it.

Daniel Biss has spent his career moving between activism and governing. He’s organized protests, taken difficult political positions, and done the often invisible work of passing legislation.

Earlier this year, Evanston experienced a wave of ICE and Border Patrol activity that sent shockwaves through the community. For many immigrant families, it was frightening and destabilizing. It was also a real test of local leadership.

Biss rose to the moment. He stood alongside activists, helped organize neighborhood watch efforts, and worked with community leaders to ensure residents understood their rights. When the raids coincided with federal cuts to food assistance programs, the pressure on vulnerable families intensified. Biss quickly organized a citywide food drive.

When I went to drop off food, Biss was there unloading cars, standing shoulder to shoulder with volunteers. As he helped me unload mine, I asked how he was doing—the kind of small talk you make in that moment.

He looked up at me, bags under his eyes, exhaustion on his face.

In that moment, I didn’t see a career politician, a candidate for Congress, or someone looking for a photo opportunity. I saw someone carrying the weight of his community. Someone who had been living through the fear and stress of the past several days alongside the people he serves.

It wasn’t flashy leadership. It wasn’t performative. It was simply a public servant doing what his city needed—using the tools of city government to stand up to federal pressure while helping organize real action on the ground.

That combination—activism and governing—is rare. Activists sometimes struggle to translate ideas into policy. Career legislators sometimes lose the urgency that activism brings. Biss has spent much of his career operating between those two worlds.

As a legislature Biss authored Secure Choice, Illinois's portable retirement savings program for workers without employer plans — now a national model adopted by multiple states. He co-led the passage of Illinois marriage equality and helped pass the state ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy. He stood up to corrupt Democratic politicians like Mike Madigan. As mayor, he helped institute the nation's first municipal reparations disbursements and established a guaranteed income pilot.

In a moment when democratic institutions feel fragile, and the stakes of national politics feel unusually high, that combination of strong legislative accomplishments and grassroots activism is what we need. Daniel Biss has that.

And that ultimately led me to my decision. I’m voting for Daniel Biss.

What I Hope Daniel Biss Does With the Job

My hope is that if Biss wins this primary and, eventually, the general election, he governs boldly, fights for the values that animated this race, and represents this district with the same tenacity Jan Schakowsky has shown for so many years.

That means speaking plainly about difficult issues, even when doing so is politically inconvenient. It means standing up to powerful interests, including Democratic leadership, when the moment requires it.

I also hope he doesn’t stay too long.

This primary revealed something encouraging about this district: there is an extraordinary amount of political talent here. State Senator Mike Simmons, Bushra Amiwala, and Kat Abugazaleh all demonstrated real potential during this race. Each represents a different strand of leadership that will likely shape the district’s future.

To me, Biss is clearly the right person for the job today. But that doesn’t mean that will always be true. When his time in office is done, I hope he helps make space for the next generation of leaders who stepped forward in this race and that he finds ways to cultivate new ones during his time in office.