The Chicago Scramble: Who Will Emerge in the Wide-Open Race for IL-7?
Veteran Illinois US Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago) announced yesterday that he will not seek re-election next year completing what will be a 30-year congressional career at the end of the current Congress. The Congressman is 83 years of age.
Mr. Davis was originally elected to the Chicago City Council in 1979 and then moved to the Cook County Commission in 1990 before first winning his congressional seat in 1996. Over his long career, he averaged 85.9% of the vote in his 15 federal general elections and broke the 80% vote threshold each time. In his last two Democratic primaries, however, where multiple challengers competed against him, his renomination percentage dropped to 52.4 and 51.9%.
Speculation about his retirement had been brewing for months. His last two competitive primaries were signs that Democrats who have been waiting in the wings to run for the party’s safest Illinois congressional seat were no longer content at sitting on the political sidelines and are taking action.
The strongest clue leading to Rep. Davis’ retirement announcement was his long-time political ally and one-time congressional chief of staff, former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, announcing his congressional candidacy at the beginning of last week. It is clear that Mr. Boykin would not have opposed Mr. Davis.
In all, ten Democrats have already announced their candidacies, the most prominent of which are Mr. Boykin and state Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago). Many other Chicago politicians are now expected to join what will be a very crowded Democratic primary as the candidates will by vying to succeed Rep. Davis. The eventual Democratic nominee becomes the prohibitive favorite in November of 2026 to hold the seat.
Illinois’ 7th District, with an 82.4D – 13.0R partisan lean according to the Dave’s Redistricting App statisticians, is the safest Democratic seat in the state. Kamala Harris posted an 82.1 – 16.7% victory margin here in November. Four years earlier, President Biden captured the district with an 85.6 – 12.8 percentage spread. IL-7 is one of three Chicago Black districts and has a Black Voting Age Population figure of 43%, with an overall minority percentage of 67.3.
The district begins in Chicago’s Hillside neighborhood, then moves east along the Eisenhower Expressway through Oak Park, and into the heart of downtown Chicago and the Lake Michigan shore before turning south, extending just past West 74th Street.
IL-7 is now the 23rd open seat for the next election. Rep. Davis becomes the 11th Democrat not to seek re-election, but just the fourth House member to retire. Three have passed away this year, one has resigned to accept a position in the private sector, and the remaining 15 are either running for Senate or Governor.
Of the 23 open seats, Illinois currently holds four of the affected districts, and all are from the Chicago area. With Reps. Davis (15 terms), Robin Kelly (D-Matteson/Chicago; 7 terms), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Schaumburg; 5 terms), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston; 14 terms) all leaving the House, the metro area and Democratic Party will be losing a combined 82 years in US House seniority. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) also retiring adds another 44 years of Washington experience that the state and Democratic Party will lose.
The Illinois primary is scheduled for March 17, 2026, with an early candidate filing deadline of November 3. There is no runoff or Ranked Choice Voting system employed in the Illinois system, so the candidate garnering the most votes in the Democratic primary, regardless of percentage attained, will win the party nomination and effectively clinch the seat months before the November general election.
