CONTACT:
Brandon Lee
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago
773-271-0899 x200
blee@advancingjustice-chicago.org
Record number of Asian Americans seek office in 2018 Illinois Primary
Election winners include first ever Asian American in IL State Senate
More Asian Americans in Illinois are seeking political office than ever before, a trend that continued in Tuesday’s primary election. A record number of Asian Americans sought seats in the U.S. Congress, State House, and local governments across the state. With over 700,000 Asian Americans in Illinois, our community has begun to show its power and run for office at all levels.
Among the winners in the March 20 election was Ram Villivalam (D), who sought the seat in Illinois Senate district 8. Villivalam will be the first Asian American to serve in the Illinois Senate, as well as the first South Asian in the General Assembly when he is inaugurated in January, 2019. Theresa Mah (D), the first Asian American to serve in the General Assembly, will return to the Illinois House after running uncontested.
Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) ran uncontested in U.S. House district 8 and will seek a second term in November. Peter Lee (R) and Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D) will face each other in the general election for Illinois House district 17 — the winner in November will be the second Asian American in the Illinois House. Soojae Lee (R) in Illinois Senate district 30 and Julie Cho (R) in Illinois House district 18 ran uncontested in the primary and will appear on the general election ballot. Shundar Lin (R) ran uncontested in the primary and will appear on the general election ballot for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Holly Kim (D) ran uncontested for the nomination for Lake County Treasurer, and will appear on the ballot in November. Ravi Raju (D) is currently ahead of his Democratic primary opponent by 33 votes in the race to appear on the general election ballot in Cook County Board district 15.
Other Asian American candidates who sought office in the Illinois Primary include: Anne Shaw (15% of the vote in Illinois House district 4), Dilara Sayeed (27% in Illinois House district 5), Grace Chan McKibben (15% in House district 25), Sameena Mustafa (24% in U.S. House district 5), Sapan Shah (29.8% in U.S. House district 10), Neill Mohammad (27.1% in U.S. House district 16), Bushra Amiwala (26.5% in Cook County Board district 13), Rishi Agrawal (21.5% in the Cook County 8th judicial subcircuit), Cyrus Hosseini (3.5% in the Cook County 8th judicial subcircuit), Mehr Qayyum (12.5% in DuPage County Board district 3), and Hadiya Afzal (13.7% in DuPage County Board district 4).
Next up is the general election on November 6. Asian American voters will be keeping a close eye on the elections for Illinois General Assembly because of the impact State Representatives and Senators have on preserving essential services for our community partners, supporting Census outreach in 2020, and protecting immigrant communities in this xenophobic and Islamophobia atmosphere. In addition, whoever wins the Governorship this November will have a say over the state’s role in Census outreach, and then have veto power over redistricting in 2020.