Democrats running to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District condemned President Donald Trump’s military operations in Iran over the weekend.
The United States and Israel launched joint military strikes on the country Saturday morning, targeting multiple cities, including Iran’s capital, Tehran. The nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several top security officials were among those killed during the operations, Iranian state media confirmed Saturday.
Iran has since launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. military bases, Israel and neighboring gulf-state nations.
“The American people overwhelmingly do not want another war in the Middle East,” U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) wrote in a Saturday news release. “The last thing our country needs is to be drawn into a conflict that would cost lives and destabilize the region.”
In the news release, Schakowsky also reiterated her support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an existing international agreement she wrote “establishes that diplomacy, not war, can constrain Iran’s nuclear program and keep Americans safe.” Under Trump’s leadership, the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.
Several candidates in the crowded race to replace Schakowsky — including frontrunners Mayor Daniel Biss, progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh and State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview) — questioned the motivations behind Trump’s attack.
“Donald Trump is leading us into another military conflict to distract from his own failures that puts American lives at risk and threatens to send the Middle East into further chaos,” Fine wrote in a statement posted to X on Saturday morning.
In a Saturday news release, congressional candidate and State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago) also criticized Trump, calling for a “swift end” to military operations and writing that the U.S. “doesn’t need another forever war.”
Candidates broadly condemned the attack’s lack of congressional approval, with many calling for Trump’s impeachment.
“Democratic leadership must be clear in its united condemnation of this war, and Congress must use its authority to stop this insanity while moving toward impeaching Trump before he sparks a wider conflict,” Biss wrote in a Saturday morning news release.
Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala wrote in a news release that afternoon that Trump’s actions were an “impeachable offence that none of us should tolerate.”
Both Biss and Abughazaleh urged Congress to pass a War Powers Resolution to ensure legislative authorization for future military actions.
In a Saturday news release, congressional candidate and former FBI hostage negotiator Phil Andrew criticized Trump but called Iran’s pursuit of nuclear armament “an existential threat to the United States, Europe, and Israel and a grave danger to regional and global stability.”
While he did not call for impeachment, Andrew noted the importance of “disciplined strategy, allied unity, credible diplomacy, and sustained congressional oversight.”
In a Sunday post to Bluesky, Abughazaleh emphasized the human toll of military attacks in Iran. Responding to casualty reports, she wrote, “The blood of these service members, these children, and every civilian rests in Trump’s hands.”
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