Editor’s note: Ahead of the March 17 primary, Growing Community Media is profiling the candidates running in the 7th congressional district in Illinois to replace Rep. Danny Davis, who is retiring. This week, that’s Jason Friedman.
Jason Friedman is a River North resident and fourth-generation Chicagoan. His grandfather owned a hot dog stand on the West Side, and his great-grandfather was a peddler on Maxwell Street.
“For me, this is a real opportunity to give back to our community. You really see so many of our career politicians are just failing us over and over again,” Friedman said on why he’s campaigning for Illinois’s seventh district congressional seat.
Friedman has long had a passion for public service. His earliest experience in politics was when he was 13 years old as a student volunteer for U.S. Sen. Paul Simon’s presidential campaign. He also campaigned for Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and, at age 18, worked on the 1992 Democratic National Committee.
After attending Georgetown Law, Friedman worked in the West Wing during Clinton’s administration and for Sen. Dick Durbin on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I was enthralled by public service,” Friedman said. “This is a very unique experience, to get to have a second shot in life going back to your original passion. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to step up.”
Though he’s now focusing on his campaign, for the last 20 years Friedman ran his family business, Friedman Properties, which he is still owns. In its tenure, Friedman said the River North-based real estate company has created over 40,000 union jobs and saved several historic buildings in the area.
“If you look up and down Clark Street, it’s the largest collection of post-Chicago fire buildings there is. Every building has a story,” Friedman said. He added that Friedman Properties is a long-term holder of properties. “We don’t really see ourselves as real estate owners, more like stewards of the neighborhood.”
Friedman said he wants the availability and responsiveness of Friedman Properties to carry over into his renewed political career: “I would always say, ‘If you have a problem, pick up the phone. Give me the call.’ I want that to translate to public service.”
Friedman’s real estate background gives him a unique perspective on the kinds of things that development brings to a neighborhood.
“I know how to put a crane in the sky. I know how to deliver and do something,” Friedman said. He aims to reduce housing costs by adding more of a supply, adding that construction is a pathway to union jobs, minority contracting, public-private partnerships and a rising tax base. “People can look at River North and see the vibrancy that’s there, see what real investment does to the community, and they can see how that could translate to other areas, especially in this seventh district.”
Friedman has also been on the board of Jewish United Fund for over 15 years and was formerly its head of government affairs. Jewish United Fund is a health and human services organization that serves over 500,000 people of all faiths in the Chicago area every year.
Friedman has annually lobbied in Springfield and D.C. on behalf of the organizations and agencies that Jewish United Fund helps support. One of these is Mount Sinai Hospital on Chicago’s West Side, through which Friedman learned about the importance of safety net hospitals.
At Mount Sinai Hospital, a safety net hospital and level-one trauma center, Friedman said 90% of patients are on federal assistance.
“If a hospital like Mount Sinai were to fail, people would not recognize the health care system in the city of Chicago, in the seventh congressional district,” Friedman said. As a congressional representative, Friedman said he would ensure affordable health care by working to lower prescription drug costs, expand access to quality health care and fully fund Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.
Friedman would also work to make life more affordable by fighting to restore cuts to programs like SNAP, reverse President Donald Trump’s tariffs and create good-paying jobs. He said affordability is central to the American Dream. That means having enough money to buy a home, have a child, pay for their secondary education, afford quality health care and retire.
“We are failing our communities by not giving them pathways forward, to be able to say, ‘You deserve the American dream,’ just like my parents have and my grandparents have,” said Friedman, who has three kids and a spouse who’s a former Chicago Public Schools teacher. “People need to be able to not live in a situation where they’re deciding, ‘This week, am I going to spend my money on groceries or my gas?’ We have to build an economy that works for everyone.”
Friedman’s campaign also promises to address public safety by advocating for common-sense gun legislation and criminal justice reform, as well as addressing the root causes of crime that he advocates for throughout his campaign — building more housing and businesses, creating jobs, prioritizing affordable education, health care and groceries.
“That’s the kind of thing that reduces your propensity to violence,” Friedman said.
When it comes to his stance on immigration, Friedman said he aims to hold ICE accountable for brutalizing Chicagoland communities. Friedman gave this interview the day after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis.
“Immigration enforcement and immigration policy should be dealt with nothing but empathy and kindness,” he said.
In order to better serve the entire seventh district, Friedman said that, if elected, he would open two more constituent service offices on his first day.
“That’s the No. 1 way we can affect people on a day-to-day basis,” Friedman said. The offices could help constituents with federal questions on Medicare, Medicaid and social security, and work with state representatives and aldermen for more local concerns. Friedman also wants to offer constituent services for small businesses, “the economic engine of our city and state.”
“We need to stop sending dollars to Washington without them sending them back,” Friedman said, specifically for Chicagoland’s infrastructure, transportation, and to replace its lead pipes. “The city has no money. The state has no money. It’s going to take a bold leader to go to Washington and bring federal dollars back.”
“The person who’s going to win this race, which I believe is me, is going to successfully go to each neighborhood,” Friedman added, and say “‘I’m not from your neighborhood, but your issues are my issues. When I go to Washington, I will fight for you.’”
Jason Friedman has been endorsed by Ald. Brian Hopkins of the 2nd Ward, which covers Streeterville, Old Town, Lincoln Park, and the Gold Coast
Other candidates who have thrown their hats in the ring for Davis’ seat include Richard Boykin, Kina Collins, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, Anthony Driver Jr., Dr. Thomas Fisher, La Shawn Ford, Rory Hoskins, Danica Leigh, John McCombs, Anabel Mendoza, Jazmin Robinson, Reed Showalter, and Felix Tello.
