Nine candidates running to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District addressed rising healthcare costs, responding to the Trump administration and Israel’s military actions in Gaza during a Saturday afternoon forum.
The event was co-hosted by the Evanston/North Shore Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at Levy Senior Center.
Leading Democratic candidates Mayor Daniel Biss, State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview), State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago), State Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago), Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala and former FBI negotiator Phil Andrew attended the forum. Democrats Justin Ford and Patricia Brown, along with Republican John Elleson, also participated.
In May, incumbent U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) announced her retirement, sparking the first competitive race to represent Evanston in Congress in a generation. There are 19 active candidates, who collectively raised more than $11 million last year.
Rev. Michael Nabors of Evanston’s Second Baptist Church, president of the city’s NAACP, told The Daily that Black residents are optimistic ahead of the March 17 primary election.
“I think the Black community is feeling good about the race, primarily because Jan Schakowsky was a friend to the Black community, and she held down the fort for 30 years,” Nabors said. “We assume that whoever comes in after her will do the same thing, and if they decide to try to go another way, we’ll steer them in the right direction.”
About 75 community members filled the meeting room, prompting organizers to set up additional chairs and box fans to accommodate the crowd.
Candidates talk Obamacare, racial inequality, Israel
Biss, Fine, Simmons, Huynh, Amiwala and Ford expressed support for Medicare for All when asked how they’d protect or expand the Affordable Care Act. Several candidates also criticized the recent expiration of ACA subsidies designed to lower healthcare premiums.
During her opening statement, Fine recalled a car accident 15 years ago in which her husband lost a limb. When he needed healthcare, she explained, her insurance attempted to cancel the family’s policy.
“Because of that, I have made my life’s goal to protect other families from going through what my family went through,” Fine said, citing her work in the Illinois General Assembly.
In response to a question about executive orders during the second Trump administration, Fine called to expand the U.S. Supreme Court and put term limits on its justices. Simmons and Amiwala expressed support for impeaching President Donald Trump, drawing criticism from Elleson.
Calling for greater transparency, Andrew attacked Biss and Fine for running for state central committeeperson, an internal Democratic Party position, while seeking higher office. He argued the frontrunners believe “there’s not enough room in our party” for other candidates.
Throughout the forum, Simmons invoked his personal experience as the race’s leading Black candidate. In 2021, he became the first Black person to represent his Chicago-based district and the first openly gay member of the Illinois Senate.
“I don’t read about these struggles. I don’t hear about these struggles,” he said. “These are struggles that me and my communities have survived.”
Several candidates, including Elleson, criticized a video posted by Trump on Truth Social on Thursday that depicted former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes.
But Elleson, an Arlington Heights pastor, diverged from his Democratic opponents, arguing “there’s no race in God’s kingdom” and suggesting “we all should try to love one another and get along.”
Biss cited his work promoting racial justice in Evanston, adding that community members “trust their government more now because we were willing to take on a hard problem.”
In 2021, the city launched the nation’s first government-funded reparations program.
“I cannot wait to go to Congress as the mayor who implemented reparations — to tell my colleagues in Congress, not only was this the right thing to do, not only was this an important step toward repairing the harm that our city caused, but our community supports it across races,” Biss said.
When asked directly about Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Biss and Fine affirmed their support for a two-state solution.
Fine argued that a “strong Israel is strong for the national security” interests of the United States. Meanwhile, Biss, Simmons and Amiwala said they’d co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act, which would end the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel until the country adheres to international human rights laws. Amiwala and Simmons called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide during Saturday’s forum.
Criticizing Israel, Simmons invoked the experience of his father, an Ethiopian refugee who fled the country with “a genocide happening right next door in Sudan,” one he said “continues to happen today with no members of Congress talking about it.”
“We need the next member of Congress from this district to see what the people of the 9th district see, which is a genocide that is happening on our watch,” Simmons said of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Continued debate surrounding campaign contributions
Tensions flared when the candidates were asked whether their campaigns had accepted “lobbying money.”
Fine has faced mounting criticism from her opponents, including during Saturday’s forum, for purported connections to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country’s largest pro-Israel lobbying group.
Although it has not publicly endorsed her, AIPAC has fundraised on Fine’s behalf. This week, a new super PAC reportedly tied to the lobbying group spent over $500,000 on pro-Fine advertisements.
“My FEC filings list all of my individual donors,” Fine said during the forum.
When pressed by audience members for a yes-or-no response, Fine said her congressional campaign’s filing does not include any lobbying money, only individual contributions.
Biss said he doesn’t accept donations from corporate PACs, fossil fuel interests or AIPAC, later clarifying that he’d accept money from “important causes” he supports, including from “lobbyists who lobby for labor unions.”
Attendees emphasize history, importance of Black political participation
Before the event, Carole Boone, chair of the Afro-American History and Genealogy Study Group of Evanston, outlined the history of voter suppression targeting Black communities across the country.
The presentation was part of a Black History Lecture Series co-sponsored by the group, the NAACP, the city, Shorefront Legacy Center and the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti.
Nabors emphasized that educating young people about the struggle for voting rights is crucial, citing his own family history. His second-great uncle was lynched in Indiana in 1885 for attempting to help Black people register to vote, he said.
“I take it personally, but every family — almost every Black family — has that kind of personal story,” Nabors said. “Bringing up that history may inspire the younger generation to say, ‘Yeah, we really do have a vested interest in this.’”
Second Ward resident Vanessa Johnson-McCoy said she is leaning toward more experienced candidates but added Saturday’s forum prompted her to conduct further research on Huynh.
Johnson-McCoy said while she doesn’t agree with Biss on every issue, “he does what he thinks is best for the majority.” She added that the crowded field has forced her to make difficult political calculations.
“Even if I like what a couple of the newbie-ish ones said, I almost feel like my vote would be wasted because there are probably some stronger ones,” she said. “It’s a little bit challenging because there are so many.”
For Skokie resident and NAACP Secretary Judith Treadway, events like Saturday’s forum are important because the voices of minority voters who lack the resources or time to attend public meetings are frequently overlooked.
Nabors directly addressed the candidates following the forum, calling on them to unite behind the eventual winner.
“When you lose, because most of you are, don’t just go back home and say, ‘Well, I did my best, and I’m gonna leave it up to that person,’” Nabors said. “Join the team because that’s the way we’re going to win.”
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