U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (left) greets a constituent Sunday as he waits to address the congregation at Friendship Baptist Church in the Austin neighborhood.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
A pair of entrenched Democratic Chicago congressmen fended off bids for their seats Tuesday night as U.S. Rep. Danny Davis maintained his grip on the West Side district he’s represented for nearly three decades, and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García brushed aside the first primary challenge of his congressional career.
With 59% of votes counted in the 7th Congressional District, Davis had 52% of the vote compared to 21% for Conyears-Ervin and 19% for progressive activist Kina Collins, according to Associated Press estimates.
Teacher Nikhil Bhatia had 5%, and Kouri Marshall, a former deputy director to Gov. J.B. Pritzker had 3%.
With 47% of votes counted in the 4th Congressional District, which stretches from the Southwest Side to Oak Brook and other west suburbs, U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García had nearly 70% of the vote over about 31% for Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th).
The contests were called barely an hour after the polls closed — before significant crowds even showed up for the winners’ election night parties.
A few dozen Davis supporters gathered quietly at tables at his headquarters across the street from his East Garfield Park office. Large signs flanking the stage with his main campaign theme: “He’s someone you know. He’s someone you can count on!”
Davis raised more than $457,000 and rounded up all the establishment support you would expect for a congressman vying for his 15th consecutive term in the district, which stretches from west suburban Hillside into the Loop and down to the South Side.
Davis was backed by Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Mayor Brandon Johnson and a third of the City Council, to name just a fraction of the Democratic heavyweights in Davis’ corner.
It wasn’t always that way for the Arkansas native, who moved to Chicago in 1961, working as a high school teacher and community organizer before getting into politics.
Davis made two failed Democratic primary runs for the House seat in the mid-1980s while serving as 29th Ward alderperson. He then won two terms as a Cook County commissioner and finally won the 7th District seat on a progressive platform in 1996.
After that, it was mostly smooth electoral sailing for Davis until 2022, when Collins, in her second bid against the longtime incumbent, gave him one of the closest primary races of his career, taking 46% of the vote in a three-way race.
In her third challenge this year, Collins — a 33-year-old Austin native and an organizer for progressive advocacy groups — argued again for a fresher vision for the district. Davis will turn 83 before November’s general election.
Collins — who was backed by progressive Alds. Daniel La Spata, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Angela Clay and Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth — raised more than $72,000 for her latest run. But that figure did not include the recent haul she got from her unlikely alliance with indie rock legends The Strokes, who played a sold-out concert earlier this month benefiting Collins’ campaign.
Conyears-Ervin led fundraising in the race with more than $619,000, and she also boasted perhaps the biggest progressive boost in the race with the endorsement of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Raised on the West Side, the former insurance executive served a term as a state representative before being elected city treasurer in 2019. Conyears-Ervin told WBEZ she has counted Davis as a mentor, but that it was time to welcome “the next generation” of leadership to the district.
Her campaign was saddled with ethics questions after the city inspector general’s office found she fired two city employees who complained that she used city resources for a prayer service. Conyears-Ervin could still face thousands of dollars in fines pending a city ethics board ruling, but she maintains the allegations “misrepresent” her office.
Davis faces ethics questions of his own, with a complaint filed with the House Ethics Committee alleging he used funds from his office for campaign mailers, which he has denied.
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There was little drama in Garcia’s 4th District race, but allegations of campaign shenanigans flew throughout Election Day.
García’s campaign reported Lopez allies were spotted giving away coffee, doughnuts and “envelopes of cash” to poll workers in the City Council member’s own South Side ward.
Lopez, who’s also the ward committeeperson, acknowledged as much, saying the $50 was to provide lunch for workers, which isn’t covered by the city election board.
While García’s campaign called for an investigation, Lopez said the incumbent has a “lack of respect for election judges.”
An election board spokesman called it “a longstanding tradition” for committeepeople to provide refreshments for poll workers, but said any complaints about the money would be handled by the election fraud division of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. No formal complaints had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon.
Lopez had challenged Garcia from the right, criticizing him as out of touch with a majority-Latino district redrawn to include Hinsdale, Oak Brook and other west suburbs.
Garcia — a fixture in Chicago politics for four decades as an alderperson, Cook County commissioner, state senator and two-time mayoral candidate — raised more than $487,000 in the campaign to retain the seat he has held since 2019.
Lopez — a former Midway Airport skycap, and one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s most vocal critics — raised about $72,000 for his upstart bid, the first primary challenge Garcia has had since taking office.
Though Lopez, in Fox News appearances, called on President Joe Biden to crack down at the southern U.S. border, both candidates called for increased federal resources for cities dealing with the influx of asylum-seekers — and protections for Dreamers, people who were brought into the country illegally as youths.
They diverged on the Israel-Hamas war, with Garcia calling for a ceasefire and Lopez opposing such a measure unless “all the [Israeli] hostages and bodily remains are returned unconditionally.”
Garcia doesn’t have any opponents in November’s general election. The winner in the 7th District race faces nominal opposition from Republican Chad Koppie.