There’s no great choice for a house seat, but Chicago’s Orthodox Jewish community can potentially play a determinative role

Photo: AP Images

The Democratic primary in Chicago’s 9th Congressional District, scheduled for March 17, is shaping up to be a bellwether race for 2026. And like all too many of these contests in deep-blue cities, it is a matchup that casts no heroes and demands much nose-holding. That being said, Chicago’s Orthodox Jewish community can potentially play a determinative role in the outcome.

Topline

Sometimes labeled Illinois’s “Jewish seat,” the reliably Democratic district was represented by Rep. Sidney Yates from 1965 to 1999, and then by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who announced her retirement last year.

Now, the short list of front-runners in the Democratic primary includes Kat Abughazaleh, a Palestinian-American with a robust record of anti-Israel activism fitting comfortably into her far-left platform.

The district has been solidly blue for over seven decades and has now swung in an increasingly progressive direction. The district covers West Rogers Park and Skokie, so it is also home to the vast majority of Chicago’s Orthodox community.

“It’s a very diverse district and it’s become very progressive, but I don’t know of any other bloc that’s as cohesive as us,” says Rabbi Shlomo Soroka, director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of Illinois.

The Orthodox voting bloc numbers some 10,000. While that is a modest slice of the district, Rabbi Soroka thinks that in a low turnout contest, the community could have an outsized impact.

“The last midterm turnout was in the seventy-thousands,” he says. “Right now, no one is polling above 30 percent. With those numbers and 16 candidates in the race, if the frum community shows up en masse and votes as a bloc, that would likely determine the outcome of the election.”

Meet the Candidates

Since Ms. Schakowsky announced she would not run, hopefuls flooded the race, with 16 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination. The victor in the primary is nearly certain to prevail in the general election.

Three serious contenders have emerged.

Kat Abughazaleh, 26, a social media “influencer,” has rallied much of the district’s young voters behind her, touting a list of leftist positions that include redistributionist economic plans and fighting what she calls President Donald Trump’s “fascism.” She has said in her campaign statements that “people of all backgrounds and ethnicities should be disturbed by our government’s complicity in Israel’s 58-year occupation.”

Daniel Biss, 48, is a mathematician who served in various positions in state government starting in 2011. He is presently mayor of Evanston, a suburb that is home to a significant Jewish community.

Mr. Biss’s platform checks all the progressive boxes, including a call to ban immigration raids and statements like “Donald Trump is a fool who thinks he’s a king.”

His mother is Israeli. Mr. Biss has resisted using the harshest left-wing rhetoric on Israel, but he supports immediate recognition of a Palestinian state and passage of the “Block the Bombs Act,” which would prohibit the sale of most lethal weapons to Israel.

Laura Fine, 59, is a career politician currently serving in the Illinois state senate. She holds the most centrist views among her closest competitors.

Some of her campaign statements are more balanced in tone, such as like “I believe we can have secure borders and still treat people humanely.” But like Mr. Biss and Ms. Abughazaleh, she, too, embraces the call to “abolish ICE.”

Mrs. Fine puts her Jewishness front and center, with her campaign literature saying she was “raised with the values of tikkun olam.” She has held to what would have in the past been a relatively standard Democratic line of support for Israel’s legitimacy and security.

All three advertise their support for a list of progressive social causes abhorrent to traditional religious beliefs.

Lining Up

A muddle of endorsements could foretell splits down the road.

Progressive establishment leaders like Senator Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Rep. Jamie Raskin back Mr. Biss. He also has Rep. Schakowsky’s support.

Rep. Ro Khanna and former congressman and Squad member Jamal Bowman have come out for Ms. Abughazaleh.

The only polling in the race has been conducted by campaigns and PACs backing candidates. Those show Mr. Biss and Ms. Abughazaleh in a near tie, with Mrs. Fine lagging behind in third place. However, none are highly reliable, and voter share is likely to shift as the race enters its last leg and more spending is poured into the campaigns.

Money Talks

One way to gauge a candidate’s future career path is to examine where campaign funding is coming from. It is an especially reliable predictor with regard to a candidate’s positions on Israel.

Ms. Abughazaleh is backed by the pro-Palestinian PAL PAC.

Mr. Biss is getting support from J Street, the left-wing group and steady foe of hawkish views on Israel policy.

Mrs. Fine’s support from AIPAC has raised no shortage of controversy in the race, given the district’s overall progressive leanings. Supporters of Mrs. Fine’s opponents cast the group as “buying” candidates’ support. Trying to be discreet, AIPAC worked through other PACs disconnected from Israel advocacy, but its role was eventually reported. Mrs. Fine initially denied any knowledge of AIPAC’s efforts, but recently indirectly acknowledged that it was natural for the group’s supporters to back her due to her alignment with the pro-Israel camp.

Hard Realities

The race presents a familiar dilemma to urban blue-state-dwelling Orthodox Jews: whether to cast a vote for a candidate whose political positions are far from ideal, to block others who are even less appealing.

That makes heavy lifting for groups trying to drive voter turnout.

Agudah’s Rabbi Soroka acknowledges the task is “challenging.” Still, setting aside the fact that the top three candidates are progressive, he says there are significant differences among them in policy areas important to the Orthodox community.

“I really think there would be very big differences when it comes to programs that benefit Jewish education,” Rabbi Soroka says. “I also think there would be differences on approaches to fighting antisemitism and support for security measures like the NSGP [Nonprofit Security Grant Program, a federal program that funds security for many Jewish institutions].”

Among the factors that raise the stakes in the race is the strong hold Democrats have on the district, making it likely that the victor will be in Congress for many election cycles to come.

Rabbi Soroka points out that since this primary will be one of the first in the nation for the 2026 midterms, it could have repercussions well beyond Chicago.

“A victory by a far-left, anti-Israel candidate could energize that base and give them momentum, energy, and a huge influx of money,” he says. “This race could say a lot about the makeup of the next Congress, and we could actually shape this election — as opposed to it shaping us.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1100)