Crowded primary for Krishnamoorthi's suburban House seat underscores Democrats' generational divide

Raja Krishnamoorthi’s Senate ambition means residents of the northwest suburban 8th Congressional District will have a new U.S. representative next year — or perhaps one they haven’t seen for awhile, at least.

Three-term former U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean is betting that her moderate brand of Democratic politics is due for a comeback 16 years after she was unseated by Tea Party conservative Joe Walsh.

But the redrawn 8th isn’t quite the swing district Bean first seized from longtime Republican Rep. Phil Crane in 2004. And in the era of President Donald Trump, Bean’s opponents in a crowded field of eight Democratic primary candidates say it’s a different conservative paradigm that she’s not equipped to fight.

Bean argues voters in the district that stretches from a sliver of Chicago’s Northwest Side out to Elgin are crying out for pragmatism over polarization. After stints at finance giants JPMorgan Chase and Mesirow Financial, the Barrington resident says she returned to the public arena because “I got tired of throwing my shoe at the television” in frustration with Trump policies.

“What I'm hearing mostly from people is they would love to see a little more boring and a lot less drama from government,” said Bean, who has pumped about $300,000 into a campaign that paced the field with $1 million on hand entering the new year. “They just want to know [if] they elect you, you’ll put your head down, you'll get the work done and you’ll deliver.”

Democratic contenders to the left of Bean say that’s not enough to address the concerns they’re hearing most from constituents: affordability, health care and social services that are on the chopping block in the Republican-led U.S. House.

“People of the district want someone who would stand up to Donald Trump,” said Junaid Ahmed, who’s making a comeback bid of his own after being soundly defeated by Krishnamoorthi in a 2022 primary challenge.

Ahmed, a South Barrington tech entrepreneur who organized protests against the use of the McHenry County Jail as a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center under the Biden administration, closed 2025 with more than $835,000 in his campaign fund.

“People have seen me standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them,” said Ahmed, who's endorsed by progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “That's what differentiates me.”

Two-term Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison is another progressive candidate keeping tabs on who has advocated most forcefully against Trump policies.

“We've seen health care under attack, LGBT rights under attack, reproductive freedoms under attack — I've been involved in taking steps to push back against every one of those attacks,” said Morrison, the county board’s first openly gay member. “We've actually seen Joe Walsh speak more vocally against the attacks on our Constitution, our civil liberties and freedoms than [Bean] did in the last 15 years."

Morrison, of Mount Prospect, entered January with about $233,000 in his federal campaign fund.

Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Bankole, who has worked in the offices of both Krishnamoorthi and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, echoed the need for a new generation of leadership to “help us survive the next three years of the Trump administration.”

“Working for Congress, it's felt like a war,” said Bankole, whose campaign had about $171,000 in the bank. “My experience has not only allowed me to fully understand the role of a good federal legislator that can actually enact change, but leading in times of chaos.”

Dan Tully is a former judge advocate in the U.S. Army Reserve and foreign assistance worker for the Department of Commerce who left federal service in protest of Trump policies.

“I'm the only person in the race with experience practicing law — that's important when the rule of law is at stake,” said Tully, of Carol Stream, calling his military experience “especially relevant as we see the president turn to the military as an instrument to express his imperial aspirations.”

Hoffman Estates tech businessman Neil Khot said his private-sector success could bring “common-sense solutions” to Washington. While that includes lowering interest rates — as Trump has pushed for — Khot decries the president’s tariffs and “the chaos of putting ICE on the streets.”

Des Plaines resident Sanjyot Dunung, who runs a global education company and served on a foreign working group in Biden's administration, also presents a center-left, business-focused platform.

“We [Democrats] get very caught up in sort of the performative nature of being angry with what's going on, and certainly there's good cause to be angry. But we really need to rebuild the middle politically,” Dunung said.

Ryan Vetticad, 24, worked as a Justice Department data analyst assisting on the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He also resigned in protest. “I just desperately think we need younger voices in Congress."

The winner of the March 17 primary will face the nominee from the Republican field: Kevin Ake, Jennifer Davis, Herbert Hebein or Mark Rice.