{"id":69261,"date":"2026-03-17T23:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/former-congresswoman-wins-primary-to-take-back-former-suburban-chicago-seat\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:00:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:00:54","slug":"former-congresswoman-wins-primary-to-take-back-former-suburban-chicago-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/former-congresswoman-wins-primary-to-take-back-former-suburban-chicago-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Former congresswoman wins primary to take back former suburban Chicago seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melissa Bean, the former congresswoman who represented Illinois\u2019 8th Congressional District more than a decade ago, has won Tuesday\u2019s primary election<\/a> to retake the seat from retiring Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who is running for Senate.<\/p>\n

Bean entered Tuesday with a reported fundraising advantage of more than $1 million in the primary in the district, a Democrat-friendly zigzag of Chicago suburbs in Cook, Kane and DuPage counties west of the city proper.<\/p>\n

Bean last represented the district from 2005 to 2011, when she was upset during the Tea Party wave as now-former Rep. Joe Walsh \u2014 one of President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s biggest GOP critics \u2014 eked out a victory by less than half a percentage point.<\/p>\n

Walsh was eventually defeated by now-Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who herself was replaced by Krishnamoorthi, a native of New Delhi, India.<\/p>\n

ILLINOIS DEM SENATE CANDIDATES SPLIT ON BACKING SCHUMER AS LEADER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Krishnamoorthi hopes to be the latest senator elected from the district, as he vies to replace the retiring Land of Lincoln Democratic mainstay Sen. Richard Durbin.<\/p>\n

Prior to Bean\u2019s first tenure, Republican Phil Crane held the seat beginning in 1969, and before him, future Bush Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld \u2014 reflecting a marked political lurch to the left in the Chicago area in recent years.<\/p>\n

IT consultant Junaid Ahmed faced off against Bean and other candidates in Tuesday\u2019s race<\/a>, running on a more progressive platform.<\/p>\n

Ahmed\u2019s platform included “realizing self-determination for Palestine and ending the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” according to the local CBS affiliate<\/a>, as well as Medicaid expansion, green energy investments and canceling student loan debt.<\/p>\n

WEALTHY ELITES BANKROLL DEM SENATE CANDIDATE WHO HAS REPEATEDLY TOUTED ‘GRASSROOTS’ CAMPAIGN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Candidate and former Krishnamoorthi aide Yasmeen Bankole was endorsed by Durbin. Bankole is currently a trustee for the village of Highland Park, Illinois, and also supports a Medicare-for-all plan, undoing President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and raising the minimum wage, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

Other candidates<\/a> in the race included business executive Sanjyot Dunung, activist Neil Khot, Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, Army JAG officer Dan Tully and ex-DOJ counterterrorism staffer Ryan Vetticad.<\/p>\n

The Democratic victor is expected to be moderately favored in November given the current political makeup of the D+5 district, and will face the winner of the Republican primary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Candidates there included accountant Kevin Ake, software company owner Jennifer Davis, retired Chicago cop Herbert Hebein, and business executive Mark Rice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Bean, the former congresswoman who represented Illinois\u2019 8th Congressional District more than a decade ago, has won Tuesday\u2019s primary election to retake the seat from retiring Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who is running for Senate. Bean entered Tuesday with a reported fundraising advantage of more than $1 million in the primary in the district, … 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-69261","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\/69261","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=69261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}