Democratic candidate for Congress, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, speaks during U.S. House 9th District primary debate, in Chicago, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Daniel Biss, the 48-year-old mayor of Evanston, Ill., is projected to win Illinois’ 9th Congressional District Democratic primary in a race some saw as a sign for what Democrats want in their new leaders.

NBC News projected Biss to win the election at 9:36 p.m. CST. The mayor beat his main rivals, journalist Kat Abughazaleh and state Sen. Laura Fine, in a race dominated by the Trump administration’s siege of Chicago via federal immigration agents, pro-Israel super PAC spending and a debate on how progressive representatives should be in safe blue districts.

Biss will replace U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who decided to retire after 14 terms in the U.S. House at the age of 81. In January, Schakowsky endorsed Biss to succeed her.

A whopping 15 Democratic candidates fought for the 9th District seat that Schakowsky held for 25 years. Other notable candidates included state Sen. Mike Simmons, former FBI hostage negotiator Phil Andrew, Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala, economist Jeff Cohen and state Rep. Hoan Huynh.

AIPAC spending

Outside spending from pro-Israel lobbying groups quickly became one of the biggest wedge issues in the primary. As Democrats increasingly sympathize with Palestineans over Israelis in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Simmons told The New York Times that pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is “toxic” in the 9th District.

Despite that, AIPAC appears to have picked Fine as one of three Democratic congressional candidates to support in this year’s primaries, next to Donna Miller in the 2nd District and Melissa Bean in the 8th District. Through its affiliated super PACs, AIPAC spent a total of $7.6 million in the 9th District to support Fine and oppose Abughazaleh and Biss, according to political consultant Frank Calabrese. At one point, AIPAC seemingly created the super PAC Chicago Progressive Partnership and put over $100,000 in media advertising supporting Bushra Amiwala, which the fierce critic of Israel vehemently denounced. Abughazaleh said that was AIPAC trying to split the progressive vote between the two women, according to The Times.

Fine called the super PAC spending “dark money” during a FOX 32 Chicago debate last month, but she spoke in favor of the U.S. giving conditional aid to Israel. Biss is critical of the Israeli government but stopped short of calling it a genocide. Abughazaleh was one of multiple Democratic primary candidates who called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

Both Biss and Fine are Jewish, and Abughazaleh is Palestinian.

ICE in Chicago

Throughout the campaign, multiple 9th District Democrats made national headlines over confrontations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and federal immigration officers during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago.

Biss personally confronted then-Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) commander Gregory Bovino last December when he and masked CPB agents patrolled Evanston. Last October, ICE agents boxed in Hoan Huynh and a staffer and held both of them at gunpoint while they were driving through an area ICE was working in. And Abughazaleh, a frequent protester at the ICE processing facility in Broadview, Ill., was thrown to the ground by an ICE agent during one protest last September and was charged with conspiracy after another protest that same month.

Nearly all Democratic candidates were unified against President Donald Trump and Operation Midway Siege.