La Shawn Ford is well-positioned to be the West Side’s first new congressman in nearly 30 years after winning the primary race to be the Democratic candidate in November’s general election.
In a highly contested race – there were 13 Democratic candidates on the primary ballot – Ford overcame massive outside spending in support of Melissa Conyears-Ervin, his leading opponent, and substantial PAC funds working to diminish his vote.
Ford supporters, including current Congressman Danny Davis, gathered at the National Association of Letter Carriers in Bronzeville to celebrate Ford becoming the Democratic candidate for the 7th district.
As of 9:15 on Election Night unofficial results had Ford with 23.6% of the vote. Conyears-Ervin was at 20.2%.
Ford pulled ahead of all other candidates, as soon as polling numbers started to be reported.
The crowd chanted “Get on board with Ford” before the Democratic candidate showed up around 8:30 p.m. and claimed victory.
“I want to thank all of the candidates who ran for Congress,” said Ford after saying he didn’t write a speech. “I learned a lot from each one of them. From the debates, I learned how to be a better congressman when I’m elected.” He said he’d meet with other candidates to include their ideas when he reaches Washington D.C. next January.
Ford will run against the Republican primary winner, Chad Koppie, in November. Koppie received over 68% of a modest GOP vote. The 7th congressional district hasn’t had a Republican representative since the 1940s.
Congressman Danny Davis, the incumbent for the seat, introduced Ford, whom he endorsed last summer after running 15 times for the position.
“We want to thank the citizens of the 7th district for understanding that our interest is above that of anybody else’s,” Davis said.
“None of us are standing here without Congressman Davis,” said Speaker of the Illinois House Chris Welch. “He’s mentored all of us, and he knew who to send to Washington to fight for us.”
“I pledge to all of you and to the congressman that your legacy will be protected,” Ford said to Davis. “This campaign has always been about the people at the bottom. We’re going to unite for the people at the bottom. Not for the people with the money, but the people at the bottom.”
The runners-up
Melissa Conyears-Ervin
At Manny’s Deli on the Near West Side, nearly 50 people attended an evening with Conyears-Ervin.
“While in the city it is neck-and-neck in our suburban vote we are lagging behind,” Conyears-Ervin said. “We gave it all in this campaign. When you give your all, all you can do is trust God that He knows what’s best and will do what’s best.”
According to Ford, Conyears-Ervin called to congratulate him before 8:30 p.m. and said she looks forward to working with him.
Conyears-Ervin ran the most-expensive campaign of the 7th district’s 15 candidates. The United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has spent over $5 million on Conyears-Ervin’s campaign, according to the New York Times.
The 7th congressional race has attracted $8.4 million in outside campaign funding, the second-highest amount spent on a congressional primary race in the state.
Kina Collins
Collins hosted a watch party at Comedy Plex in Oak Park. Around 7:30, there were maybe two dozen people there, when Collins had about 2,200 reported votes or 12% of the vote.
“Progressives could have won if we consolidated,” Collins said during the speech at her watch party around 8:30 p.m.
There were multiple progressives in the primary race and the vote was splintered.
She said bringing ranked choice voting to Illinois would also be necessary for progressive candidates to succeed.
“As we are tallying up the votes, we’re seeing that progressives could have won had we consolidated,” Collins said, flanked by family on the comedy club’s stage. “I’m very clear-eyed on what our next journey is about the fight for ranked choice voting, because it’s literally about the viability of this district.”
Jason Friedman
The evening of election day, Jason Friedman held a gathering at Salon 61 in River North. Thirty-some people attended. In the end, with votes still unofficial, Friedman won about 7.5% of the total vote.
At that time, Friedman’s communications director, Devan Keesling, said, “We’re still waiting for the numbers to come in. Until we have a definitive answer, we’re still going to remain optimistic. We can definitely say we’ve been crisscrossing the district, putting our all into this.”
“While it isn’t the result we certainly hope for, I want to be clear: the fight for this district is far from over,” Friedman said during his concession speech. “When I started this journey over a year ago, I wasn’t sure we’d be standing here tonight, but here we are, and I’m very grateful for each and every one of you.”
Brendan Heffernan, Stella Brown and Bob Skolnik contributed reporting to this story