Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Evrvin failed to defeat a crowded field of Democratic candidates Tuesday for a deep-blue House seat, despite the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spending aggressively to put her over the top.<\/p>\n
Conyears-Ervin’s loss represents a notable defeat for the pro-Israel group, which frequently intervenes in Democratic primaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Ill., won the 13-way primary ballot after weathering a torrent of attack ads powered by the cryptocurrency industry. Ford touted the endorsement of Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill, who represented the district incorporating parts of the city\u2019s South Side and western suburbs for nearly three decades.<\/p>\n
AIPAC and its affiliates spent more than $5 million boosting Conyears-Ervin. The Chicago Democrat also had the support of the city\u2019s influential teachers\u2019 unions and the cryptocurrency industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ford’s GOP opponent will face a steep battle to win the general election in the Democrat-heavy district. In 2024, former Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> won more than 80% of the vote in the district, where Black Americans constitute a plurality.<\/p>\n Conyears-Ervin previously came up short in a primary challenge against Davis in 2024, though her campaign was marred by allegations that she misused city funds for personal use and retaliated against whistleblowers. The Chicago Democrat paid a $30,000 fine in 2025 to resolve the charges brought by a city ethics panel.<\/p>\n AOC RAISING MONEY BY USING PRO-ISRAEL GROUP’S ATTACK ON HER ‘SQUAD’ ALLY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Eleven other Democratic candidates were on the ballot in a free-for-all contest to replace Davis.<\/p>\n Jason Friedman, a real estate developer and philanthropist, also failed to receive a sizable share of votes despite outraising the field. AIPAC’s main super PAC spent tens of thousands of dollars attacking his candidacy.<\/p>\n Progressive activist Kina Collins and several other left-wing candidates appeared to split the vote among voters hailing from the party’s leftward flank.<\/p>\n WHERE SANDERS AND AOC BACKED PROGRESSIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE ANALILIA MEJIA STANDS ON KEY ISSUES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n AIPAC, a frequent player in congressional races, has had mixed success intervening in 2026 primaries so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n In February, the group was successful in torpedoing former Rep. Tom Malinowski\u2019s comeback bid<\/u><\/a> in a New Jersey special election, but a Democrat with even more hostile views toward Israel narrowly won the primary. That candidate, Analilia Mejia, who is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.<\/a>, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is on track to win the general election in April in the Democrat-held seat.<\/p>\n The group also spent heavily against several other Illinois Democrats running in other primary contests who have views critical of Israel, including media personality Kat Abughzaleh.<\/p>\n Conyears-Ervin has served as Chicago\u2019s city treasurer since 2019 and previously did a one-term stint in the state legislature.<\/p>\n Chicago has faced an array of fiscal challenges during Conyears-Ervin\u2019s tenure. Two rating agencies downgraded Chicago\u2019s credit rating<\/u><\/a> in February over the city\u2019s sizable budget deficits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Evrvin failed to defeat a crowded field of Democratic candidates Tuesday for a deep-blue House seat, despite the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spending aggressively to put her over the top. Conyears-Ervin’s loss represents a notable defeat for the pro-Israel group, which frequently intervenes in Democratic primaries.\u00a0 State Rep. LaShawn … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}