Democratic voters on Tuesday are choosing a nominee to succeed retiring Representative Jan Schakowsky in Illinois' 9th Congressional District, where groups affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have spent more than $2.4 million, according to Axios.
The leading Democratic contenders are Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, former journalist and Palestinian American Kat Abughazaleh, and state Senator Laura Fine, who has drawn support from AIPAC-affiliated groups.
Senate, House and local candidates are ramping up their campaigns for the 2026 elections. Traditionally, the party that does not hold the White House tends to perform better in midterms. The seat is open for the first time since Schakowsky was elected in 1998.
Recent national polling shows Democrats' views of Israel have become more negative in recent years, raising questions about how spending tied to the AIPAC could influence the race. A new NBC poll found that 13 percent of Democrats view Israel positively.
Punchbowl News reported that AIPAC pushed through more than $21 million through four different open Illinois congressional races this election cycle.
AIPAC, through both its own PAC and various affiliated super PACs such as "Elect Chicago Women," has poured millions of dollars into the race in support of Fine. AIPAC, which is the nation's largest pro-Israel organization, then created another affiliate, Chicago Progressive Partnership, "to attack" Abughazaleh, PunchBowl News reported.
Following Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 75,000 Palestinians in the war, according to a recent study published in The Lancet Global Health. The war and the fragile ceasefire that has followed have become a major political issue in the United States.
Immigration is also a hot topic in Illinois' 9th Congressional District, which consists of parts of Chicago and its northern suburbs, as some of the candidates have spoken out against immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz, including Biss coming face-to-face with then-U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and Abughazaleh under federal indictment for alleged interference in ICE operations.
Polls show Biss leading, with a recent survey from Public Policy Polling outlining the competitive race. It found Biss at the top with 24 percent, Abughazaleh at 20 percent and Fine with 14 percent. The poll, conducted between March 9 and 10, found that 17 percent of participants didn't know whom they were voting for yet. The survey of 741 likely Democratic primary voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
An earlier Public Policy Polling survey conducted between February 20 and 21 found Biss with the same 24 percent hold, but Abughazaleh at 17 percent and Fine with 16 percent. In that poll, 22 percent of voters were undecided. The poll of 501 likely voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
The district is considered safely Democratic, with Schakowsky having won 68 percent of the vote in 2024.
Kat Abughazaleh told PunchBowl News about AIPAC: "They're panicking because they realized that they didn't learn a lesson from New Jersey 11. It's backfired on them because AIPAC is now so unpopular that people don't want to even be involved with it."
Daniel Biss told PunchBowl News: "I think that AIPAC finds someone like me really scary. Someone who's Jewish, someone whose mother is Israeli, someone whose grandparents survived the Holocaust and who is willing to stand up and say, 'Listen, the conduct of the national government in Gaza has been a horror.'"
Laura Fine told The Chicago Sun Times: "If you look at my 13-year record, I've brought Illinois from a state that really favored the industry to now one of the most consumer-friendly states when it comes to health care in the country. And I want to bring that those skills to Washington and support programs like Medicare for All, so we can build a better, more simple healthcare system that gives everybody high quality care."
Polls close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. If an individual is in line ahead of 7 p.m., they will be able to cast their vote.