Biss wins Illinois election to succeed Schakowsky in House

Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss (D) is projected to easily defeat his Republican opponent John Elleson for the House seat left open by retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), according to Decision Desk HQ .

Biss — a mathematician and former policy consultant — will serve Illinois’s 9th District, which represents parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties in the northeastern part of the Prairie State. The seat was left open by Schakowsky, who announced her retirement from Congress in 2025. She endorsed Biss in his bid.

He campaigned on strengthening worker protections, restoring competition to the economy and corporate accountability, according to his campaign website.

Before launching his House campaign, Biss served in both the Illinois state House and Senate, where he voted to pass protections for abortion rights and strengthen technology privacy requirements.

Biss’s bid was backed by Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).

During the primaries , he was notably attacked by Elect Chicago Women — a group aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — which spent $1.4 million against his campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings .

He faced controversy before his March primary victory when he admitted to going on a “handful of dates” with a former student while teaching at the University of Chicago in 2004. Biss’s campaign confirmed the relationship in a statement to The Daily Northwestern , noting the 20-year-old student had been enrolled in a course that Biss, who was 26 at the time, taught as a postdoctoral instructor.

Biss’s campaign added that Biss knew it was “ill-advised” and “ended” it at the time.