Democratic incumbents face primary competition as party seeks to keep hold on Illinois legislature

Democrats will try to maintain their supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly in this year’s elections, with several incumbents facing challenges in the March 19 primary and big money pouring into some races.

In 2022, Democrats, aided by a newly drawn map of district boundaries, held on to their supermajority in the Senate and built on it in the House, expanding to 78 members, the most for that chamber in modern times. The Democrats have controlled both chambers of the General Assembly since 2003.

This year, all 118 House seats and 23 of 59 Senate seats are on ballots.

Here’s a look at a few of the primary contests that will set the field for the November general election.

3 Democrats challenge Sen. Natalie Toro

In a Senate district on Chicago’s North and Northwest sides that stretches from working-class communities like Belmont Cragin to trendy neighborhoods like Logan Square and a sliver of tony Lincoln Park, a four-way Democratic contest has been notable for the amount of money being raised by candidates — each of whom is striving to prove their progressive credentials.

Leading the way in fundraising is incumbent state Sen. Natalie Toro, who was appointed to the seat last year and has the backing of several state and local Chicago-area Democrats.

At the end of last year, she had a little over $113,400 in her campaign coffers. But since Jan. 1, the Senate Democrats’ campaign operation run by Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park has contributed close to $1.3 million, according to state records. Additionally, five Senate colleagues — Bill Cunningham and Sara Feigenholtz, both of Chicago, Linda Holmes of Aurora, Julie Morrison of Lake Forest, and Laura Murphy of Des Plaines — contributed a total $250,000 from their campaign funds, the records show.

Challenger Graciela Guzmán, an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, has garnered support from the same progressive leaders who helped elect Mayor Brandon Johnson. At the end of 2023, Guzmán had a little over $65,000 in her campaign fund, but has since raised significantly more, including more than $240,000 from teachers unions, most of it from the CTU.

The amount raised by these two candidates alone is notably extravagant for an Illinois primary contest, according to campaign finance expert Kent Redfield.

“This is very unusual in terms of primaries,” Redfield, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “You try to not have these kinds of fights because obviously you’re spending resources that you could be spending in the general election.”

Also running is Dr. Dave Nayak, who owns a farming business and runs a free asthma and allergy clinic in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, and Geary Yonker, a community organizer in Logan Square who has also worked as an executive for the Chicago Reader and WBEZ-FM 91.5.

Nayak has mostly bankrolled his campaign, putting $625,000 of his own money into the race so far this year after ending 2023 with a little more than $8,000 in cash on hand, according to state Board of Elections records. Yonker trails in fundraising, with a little under $7,000 in contributions at the start of the year, the records show.

The winner of the primary will face Jason Proctor, who’s running unopposed in the Republican primary, in this fall’s general election.

The contest reflects the country’s urban Democratic move to the left with traditionally moderate and conservative parts of the city electing increasingly progressive aldermen in their wards. Mayor Johnson tapped Toro’s predecessor, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, as his deputy chief of staff after he defeated a more conservative Democrat, Paul Vallas, in last year’s mayoral election.

In addition to Harmon, Toro is backed by Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez, who also once held the Senate seat, and Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, a longtime progressive City Council leader who has been somewhat on the outs with a wing that has shifted even further left.

Martinez and Waguespack played integral roles in getting Toro appointed to Pacione-Zayas’ seat through a complex process in which Democratic Party insiders got to decide on the replacement through weighted votes cast within the district.

In an interview last month, Toro touted her progressive bona fides, pointing to legislation she introduced last month that would repeal a law preventing local governments from passing rent control ordinances, and legislation she sponsored in January requiring insurers to cover expenses for fertility preservation for men and women regardless of medical necessity.

Toro has had to answer questions about support from Martinez, a moderate Democrat who endorsed Vallas for mayor. Martinez has also recently found herself in defensive mode following a Tribune investigation that found dozens of the clerk’s employees were engaged in campaign work or had contributed cash to Martinez in her own bid for reelection.

Toro, who grew up on the Northwest Side and previously worked as a kindergarten and third grade teacher, notes that Martinez also played a key role in helping Pacione-Zayas, known as CPZ, get appointed to the Senate seat in 2020.

“Just because someone brings you to the table doesn’t mean that you agree with them on everything,” Toro said. “No one questioned whether or not CPZ was progressive.”

Toro said it feels like candidates are playing “the progressive Olympics” and “ultimately voters have to decide based on the facts.”

Guzmán, a former staffer for Pacione-Zayas from when she served in the Senate, is backed by the CTU and a number of North and Northwest side progressives, including U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, state Rep. Will Guzzardi and Aldermen Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd, and Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th — both members of the City Council’s Democratic Socialists of America bloc. Guzman also has the endorsement of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, according to Guzman’s campaign website.

In November, in an Avondale bar surrounded by a few dozen supporters, Guzmán pushed a vision of fully funded schools, changes to housing policies “at every single level” and a certainty that people “wouldn’t be penalized for their immigration status, for their religion, for their faith, for their creed, for who they love.”

Guzmán is from Los Angeles and has worked as a campaign director for Healthy Illinois, a coalition of pro-immigrant and health care advocates. The group last year was critical of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s decision to cap enrollment for health care benefits for immigrants in the country without permission.

Guzmán said the state needs to bolster health care for immigrants and asylum-seekers, as well as for any low-income person, saying “folks are going to continue to get sicker and sicker if we can’t figure out long-term solutions that we have to solve for the system.”

During a campaign event at a Lakeview restaurant, Nayak promoted himself as “a proven progressive,” noting that his farming operation has donated to food banks and food pantries. He also talked about his free clinic for patients with allergy and asthma issues that’s run through his nonprofit organization, Strength to Love, and how, if elected, he wants to give Illinoisans “better access to health care.”

In an interview after his event, Nayak said his actions, including free healthcare and providing food to the hungry, embrace “what progressivism is about, but let’s leave it to the voters and the public to decide.”

Late last month, Nayak was sued in Cook County Circuit Court for failing to pay a former aide for work done on his campaign. Nayak said he parted ways with the aide about six months ago and has downplayed the lawsuit as a “frivolous” attempt to “defame me.”

Yonker has lived in Logan Square for more than 20 years and got involved in community organizing, trying to increase funding for neighborhood parks and co-founding the Logan Square Arts Festival. In his 25 years on the business side of the Chicago Reader and WBEZ, he helped with fundraising and sponsorships for the two news outlets.

On his campaign website, he says he wants to lift the state ban on rent control, provide public funds for more affordable housing and for keeping Illinois welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community.

He stresses the importance of addressing the underlying causes of crime on his site, but in an interview said he also favors penalty enhancements for people convicted of illegal gun possession, especially for gun trafficking.

“Yes, we are talking about root causes. I believe that we have to be addressing root causes. But then we also have to be addressing the immediate consequences. And we can do both at the same time,” Yonker said. “I think I lost an endorsement of a group because I told the truth on how I feel about this issue.”

Welch works to oust Rep. Mary Flowers

State Rep. Mary Flowers, in office since 1985 and the longest-serving Black lawmaker in Illinois history, was ousted from her leadership position last year and is facing a primary challenger backed by House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.

“I’ve had races. Now, has it been to this extent that the party was against me?” Flowers, 72, said in an interview. “No.”

Her challenger, Michael Crawford, started the year with less than $1,000 in his campaign fund, state records show, but has since raised more than $1.3 million in large donations, including nearly $600,000 from Welch and other House Democrats. Flowers had about $174,000 in available funds at the end of last year, and has since raised about $6,000 in large donations.

Crawford, a campus dean at The Chicago School, declined to be interviewed, instead issuing a statement saying he believes Flowers’ removal from leadership “will hurt our region and our chances to get resources from the state.”

“This will have a profound impact on our local schools, businesses, and jobs,” Crawford wrote.

TaQuoya McConnico, executive director for the House Democrats’ political arm, said in a statement that party leaders are “speaking with one voice … after much consideration of the future of our caucus.”

Welch removed Flowers from her leadership post after, according to news reports, he alleged that she repeatedly engaged in inappropriate behavior that included saying a staffer resembled Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Flowers in a radio interview on WVON-AM earlier this month acknowledged she had made the comment but continued to suggest her removal from leadership was unfair. She also suggested the comment was made directly to Welch.

Flowers has about $180,000 cash on hand, campaign finance records show.

Her central argument for reelection is that she has the institutional wisdom of nearly four decades in lawmaking and that there is a “generation of people that I helped” in the South Side and south suburban areas she’s served.

She cited both support for local development in the district — from swimming pools to schools — as well as her legislative legacy, particularly in protecting the health of Black infants and mothers.

“I would like to be able to work with other people,” Flowers said. “And I think I’m pretty good. I didn’t pass all that legislation because I was a horrible person.”

The race for Rep. Kelly Burke’s seat

Running in the Democratic primary to replace state Rep. Kelly Burke of Evergreen Park, who is retiring after 13 years representing a Southwest Side and southwest suburban district, are Sonia Anne Khalil, who works for the city of Markham, and attorney Rick Ryan.

Ryan, of Evergreen Park, has volunteered for local political campaigns, including Burke’s, leading her to endorse him for her seat. He positions himself as a moderate candidate prioritizing property tax relief and community safety who will “push for community more than my personal political beliefs.”

Ryan started the year with about $85,000 on hand and has since raised about $511,000 in large donations, some of which came from unions including the AFL-CIO and the Chicago Federation of Labor as well as the Gun Violence Prevention PAC, state records show.

Khalil, whose father is Samir Khalil, co-founder and chairman of the Arab American Democratic Club, said that as a cancer survivor she’s running with a focus on bringing down health care costs.

“When I’m knocking on doors, I meet countless people who face prescription drug prices that are too high, they’re struggling to pay for necessary care and they’re experiencing medical debt,” Khalil, of Palos Hills, said in an interview last month. “I know that I will fight to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for all.”

Khalil started the year with about $63,000, according to state records, and has since garnered more than $280,000 in support from groups such as the Illinois Nurses Association and Citizen Action Illinois.

Khalil has criticized Ryan for being censured by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2013 for mismanaging client funds and accruing tax liens by the IRS totaling more than $277,000 over 15 years. Ryan, who criticized Khalil for being inexperienced, called Khalil’s allegations exaggerated, saying he slipped behind on taxes after going through cancer himself and has since paid back what he owed.

Christine Shanahan McGovern of Oak Lawn is the lone candidate in the district’s Republican primary.

Newcomer challenges Sen. Patrick Joyce

In a district stretching from the south suburbs to encompass most of Kankakee County and parts of Grundy County, Democratic state Sen. Patrick Joyce of Reddick is facing a primary challenge from Kimberly Earling of Braidwood.

Joyce, who has held his seat since 2019, said in an interview last month that his priorities include reducing property taxes, increasing neighborhood safety, and addressing the migrant crisis in Illinois.

Joyce, a business owner and farmer, is a moderate Democrat who prides himself on bipartisanship and at times has gone against the majority in his party — for example, not supporting the sweeping criminal justice legislation known as the SAFE-T Act, which among other things did away with cash bail.

Joyce had more than $400,000 in his campaign account at the end of 2023, and has since raised nearly $70,000. Earling had not reported any contributions.

Earling is a political newcomer and acknowledged she still has to learn more about the issues affecting the district. She said her entry into public life was inspired by the loss of her daughter, Samantha, who was 22 and seven months pregnant when she died of a fentanyl overdose in 2018. Earling wants “every drug poisoning” to be investigated as a homicide.

Joyce beat a Republican challenger, Philip Nagel, by about 11 percentage points in 2022. Nagel, of Braidwood, is running unopposed in the GOP primary this time and is so far poised to be his party’s candidate in November.

Candidates vie for Rep. Lance Yednock’s seat

Democratic state Rep. Lance Yednock, of Ottawa, is stepping down from his seat representing a narrow J-shaped district that ranges from DeKalb south and then west along the Illinois River valley.

Three Democrats are running for his seat in the primary: DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes; DeKalb City Council member Carolyn Zasada; and Amy “Murri” Briel, Yednock’s former chief of staff.

Barnes is running on his record as mayor. His campaign says he has worked to create additional union jobs, lower taxes and increase education funding.

Zasada, who works as a real estate agent, said her platform prioritizes increasing living wage jobs, increasing access to affordable health care and decreasing taxes.

“I was knocking doors just yesterday and must have heard from five different people who lost their jobs, their whole family lost their jobs, and then on top of that, nobody can get health care nearby,” Zasada said in an interview last month.

Briel, of Ottawa, made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2018. Incentivizing organized labor, amending the state constitution to guarantee the right to reproductive freedom and making grants more accessible to rural communities are among her listed goals if elected.

Barnes started the year with about $26,000, according to state records, and has since gained about $54,000 in large donations. Zasada’s campaign fund had about $6,500 in it by Jan. 1, according to state records, and has since collected about $37,000 in large donations. Briel started the year with about $2,700, according to state records, and has since raised about $30,000 in large donations.

On the Republican side, Liz Bishop of LaSalle and Crystal Loughran of Peru are competing for their party’s nomination.

A deputy committeewoman for the Illinois GOP, Bishop had just under $20,000 by the beginning of the year. She has raised over $33,500 since. Loughran had only $270 in her account at the end of last year, according to state records.

Bishop is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility, while among Loughran’s stated priorities are combating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

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