State House Primaries to Watch
The floor of the Illinois House.
Here is a rundown of some of the top House races to watch leading up to the March 17 primary:
8th District-
The race to replace outgoing Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), who is seeking a seat in Congress, has resulted in one of the potentially most competitive primaries in the state this spring.
LaTonya Mitts, daughter of longtime Chicago Alderwoman Emma Mitts, Jill Bush, a staffer for Chicago Alderman Chris Taliaferro, pastor John Harrell, and former Attorney General legislative liaison Shantel Franklin have left many Democratic insiders guessing about the direction of the race.
Mitts and Harrell lead the field in fundraising through the end of 2025.
12th District-
A crowded Democratic field has emerged in the race to replace Rep. Margaret Croke (D-Chicago) on the city’s north side. Croke is running for State Comptroller.
Biden 2020 campaign alum Litcy Kurisinkal, Karim Lakhani, who works for his family’s hotel management company, former Obama administration staffer Paul Kendrick, and attorney-turned-teacher Mac Lebuhn make up the primary field.
Lakhani, who has been boosted by family money, ended 2025 with around $425,000 on hand. Kendrick ended the year with around $175,000 in the bank and has added around $20k in large donations since then. Lebuhn started the year with around $145,000 cash on hand. He has added around $9,000 in large donations. Kurisinkal ended the year with around $32,000 in the bank. Multiple campaigns are hiting mailboxes and airing digital ads as the race hits the final stretch.
13th District-
Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago) is vacating the northside seat to run for Congress, and has left a wide-open field of progressives seeking to replace him.
James O’Brien, a legal and policy advisor at the Illinois Commerce Commission, data analyst Ridge Knapp, veteran Demi Palecek, software engineer Sunjay Kumar, and former Deputy Attorney General Adam Braun are seeking the Democratic nomination.
Numerous Democratic insiders we spoke to said the race appears to be a fight between O’Brien and Braun, but numerous top Dems are impressed by Palecek, a National Guard member, who garnered national attention when she announced she would refuse orders if called up to enforce President Trump’s immigration efforts.
Braun holds a large fundraising lead over most of the field. Mail and digital have started hitting the district, we’re told.
34th District-
It’s a two-way race to replace outgoing Rep. Nick Smith (D-Chicago), who isn’t seeking re-election in a district that snakes from Chicago’s south side, down the Indiana line, to the Kankakee area.
Aja Kearney, a staffer for Rep. Marcus Evans (D-Chicago), and Cleo Cowley, the mother of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old Chicago student shot and killed in 2013 just days after performing at President Obama’s inauguration, are competing for the Democratic nomination.
Kearney started the year with around $30,000 in the bank, while Cowley had around $13,000.
40th District-
Rep. Jaime Andrade (D-Chicago) may survive a challenge from his left next month, but it won’t be without a fight. Miguel Alvelo-Rivera, Executive Director at the Latino Union of Chicago, is running progressive race against Andrade.
Andrade finished 2025 with around $145,000 in the bank and has reported around $90,000 in large contributions since the start of the year. House Democrats have also kicked in for mail and staff.
Alvelo-Rivera had around $32,000 cash on hand at the end of 2025 and has reported around $85,000 in large donations since then, mostly from the Chicago Teachers Union.
42nd District-
Rep. Margaret De La Rosa (D-Glen Ellyn), a school board member appointed to replace moderate former Rep. Terra Costa-Howard, is being challenged from the left by Lynn LaPlante, a DuPage County Board member.
Money has slowly begun flowing into the DuPage County district. DeLaRosa had about $33k cash on hand to start the year, and has raised another $4k in large donations.
LaPlante had around $17k at the end of last year and has raised around $26,000 in large donations since then, mostly from unions.
52nd District-
Democrat Maria Peterson is seeking a rematch against Rep. Marty McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills), who held on to his seat by a razor-thin 47 votes in 2024, but many Democrats seem to prefer school board member Erin Chan Ding.
Whoever pulls this race off will have endless amounts of money spent on their behalf in November as McLaughlin is a top incumbent GOP target for Democrats.
76th District-
House Republicans believe their preferred candidate, Liz Bishop of Peru, who lost to Rep. Amy Murri-Briel (D-Ottawa) by around 500 votes in 2024, can give the GOP a chance to flip a seat in their favor this year.
Bishop, a self-proclaimed moderate, faces far right candidate Crystal Loughran in a rematch of a 2024 primary. Most Republican insiders believe Bishop will advance to November.
94th District-
Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is likely facing her most significant challenge since she entered the General Assembly in 2010. She faces school board member and crop insurance salesman Joshua Higgins in the race.
Hammond raised $60k in the final quarter of 2025 and finished the year with around $490,000 in cash on hand. Higgins had around $22k on hand.
109th District-
Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) drew a primary at the behest of DeVore, as well, though this one appears to be picking up less steam as Hammond’s challenge.
Zachary Meyer of Aviston had $8,100 in the bank at the end of the year. Meier finished the year with $133k in the bank and has reported $6,500 in large donations this year, as well as a staffer from the House Republicans.
It appears much of the anger pointed toward Meier is online rhetoric copied and pasted from DeVore’s social media attacks that don’t really translate to actual voters.
118th District-
The GOP primary to replace Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona), who is seeking a seat int he Senate, was thrown for a loop a couple of weeks ago. That’s when Joe DeBose, the former Darren Bailey for Governor spokesman and perceived frontrunner in the race, dropped out. That leaves three Republicans, former radio host Scott Doody of Anna, Army veteran Dayton Loyd of Carbondale and contractor Harold Visser of Carbondale.
From folks on the ground I’ve heard from, it appears to be a pretty unserious race. And nobody is raising money. Doody ended the year with $3,400 in the bank. Visser had $530, and it doesn’t appear that Loyd has raised enough to open a fundraising committee.
