#il-07

[justinspoliticalcorner]

La Shawn Ford Wins Crowded Democratic Primary For 7th Congressional District

Ford, a state representative, will face Republican Chad Koppie in the general election. The 7th Congressional District is a Democratic stron

Melody Mercado at Block Club Chicago:

CHICAGO — State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford defeated 12 candidates to secure the Democratic slot on November’s ballot for the 7th Congressional District. The district saw a flood of Democratic candidates enter the race after Rep. Danny Davis announced his retirement last year. Davis, 84, was initially elected to the seat in 1996 and served 15 consecutive terms. The Associated Press called the race for Ford about 9:45 p.m. Ford had 23.8 percent of the vote with 86 percent of votes counted, according to unofficial results. Ford has been a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 8th district, since 2007. During a Feb. 12 forum, Ford said his first 100 days in office would focus on organizing progressive congressional districts and engaging directly with community groups to shape federal priorities. He also said he would work to protect older people by forming a task force to address economic and health concerns affecting them. During his time in the state legislature, Ford has advocated for allowing hemp businesses to continue operating with regulations in place — a topic that has been hotly contested in Chicago’s City Council. Ford was considered the favorite in the race, receiving an early endorsement from Davis and numerous Democratic colleagues in Springfield.

In IL-07, La Shawn Ford wins the Democratic Primary to succeed longtime Congressman Danny Davis.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Illinois' insanely expensive primaries are finally coming to an end

Our preview gives the lay of the land in every major race

Jeff Singer at The Downballot:

The 2026 primary season continues Tuesday as voters in Illinois pick candidates for state and federal offices, including in several Democratic contests that have drawn attention far outside the Land of Lincoln. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin announced last April that he would not seek a sixth term representing this reliably blue state, leading to an expensive and unpredictable three-way battle between Rep. Robin Kelly, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. The decisions by Kelly and Krishnamoorthi to run statewide in turn set off packed primaries for the House districts they are giving up. There are similarly busy races underway to replace Democratic Reps. Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky, who are both retiring after close to three decades in Congress. The primaries for these four Democratic-friendly districts, all of which are located in or around Chicago, have been defined by massive outlays from third-party interests. Organizations affiliated with the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC, the AI industry, and the crypto sector have been responsible for most of the over $30 million in outside spending that’s been deployed across these four House races. These well-heeled groups aren’t just interested in using their resources to promote their favored candidates and undermine contenders they’re hoping to keep out of Congress. Some candidates who have struggled to gain support have been the involuntary beneficiaries of positive ads that are in fact aimed at diverting votes away from a stronger rival. Many of these PACs have also deployed misleading ads attacking vocal progressives as insufficiently liberal while simultaneously portraying centrists as progressive warriors. Semafor’s Dave Weigel dubbed this approach “bizarro-world branding.”

“What hasn’t changed is that these PACs run on what their strategists believe will play with Democratic primary voters, not what their funders want to achieve,” he wrote. “As a result, watching TV in Chicago makes you feel like a cordyceps fungus has taken over the Democratic Party — imitating its messaging to destroy it, just as the parasite does in the wild.” Below, you’ll find our guide to these five races. We’re also shining a spotlight on the Democratic primary for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, where four-term incumbent Toni Preckwinkle is fighting to remain the leader of America’s second-most populous county.

Today, we have several big primaries in Illinois. The Downballot (of which I am a paid subscriber of) has excellent coverage of the big-ticket races.

Hoping and praying for Stratton, Peters, Ford, Ahmed, Abu (or Biss), Hall, Davis, and Kim wins today.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Illinois Democratic candidate glitter bombs anti-LGBTQ+ Christian group

Reed Showalter, who is straight, had a hilarious response to an anti-trans candidate survey from the Illinois Family Institute.

Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:

A Democrat running in Illinois had the perfect response to a Christian group's anti-transgender candidate questionnaire. In his campaign for the state's 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, Reed Showalter, 32, recently received a survey from Christian nonprofit the Illinois Family Institute. The form asked for his stance on various issues, including LGBTQ+ and abortion rights — with an obsessive focus on trans participation in sports.' Instead of simply filling out his responses, Showalter — who is heterosexual — decided to take his allyship a step further by filling the form with glitter.

“One of the funny things about running for office is you get inundated with a bunch of questionnaires from organizations asking what your positions are, considering whether they’ll endorse you or whether they will campaign actively against you, including some of the strangest, most goblin-y people on Earth,” Showalter said in a video posted to Instagram.

“For example, the Illinois Family Institute, which is ‘boldly bringing a biblical perspective to public policy in the Land of Lincoln,’ which I guess to them, means opposing abortion and LGBT interests," he continued. "It means withholding federal funds from schools that allow trans people to participate in sports. Actually, very specifically, that 'allow biological males to participate in female sports.' So they oppose trans people, but only if it’s male to female, and not the other way around." Showalter noted that the group included the question about trans women in women's sports twice, adding as he laughed, "They fucking do it twice. They’re obsessed with it." He then proceeded to dump several vials of glitter into the envelope before sealing it. The practice, known as "glitter bombing," gained prominence as a form of protest in the 2010s, notably happening to 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on the campaign trail. The idea is for the glitter to "explode" everywhere upon opening, creating a mess both fabulous and near-impossible to clean — annoying but ultimately harmless.

Love this response from IL-07 Democratic candidate Reed Showalter: He glitterbombed the survey from right-wing anti-LGBTQ+/anti-trans extremist hate group Illinois Family Institute (IFI).

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Dem candidate glitterbombs anti-LGBTQ+ Christian group over transphobic survey