So far, 15 Democrats have announced their candidacy for U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s 9th District seat. (Photo by Keith Mellnick) 

The ever-growing candidate field for Illinois’ 9th Congressional Democratic primary isn’t a record … yet. 

Evanston attorney Nick Pyati, 42, became the 15th candidate to file papers with the Federal Election Commission. He joins a crowded primary field that is the second largest Illinois Congressional primary going back to at least 1998. 

Only the throng of political hopefuls that filed to replace retiring 1st District Congressman Bobby Rush in 2022 was larger. Jonathan Jackson, son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, won that primary with 28.2 percent of the vote in a contest that saw 13 of the 17 candidates fail to make it out of single digits. 

Open seats and opposition party challenges to incumbents perceived to be vulnerable often have crowded primaries. The neighboring 8th Congressional District Democratic primary has eight declared candidates vying for the chance to replace incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi. 

Besides Pyati, individuals running in the 9th Congressional primary are: 

• Daniel Biss, Evanston mayor and a former state legislator 

• Laura Fine, state senator 

• Kat Abughazaleh, internet “influencer” 

• Mike Simmons, state senator 

• Phil Andrew, former FBI agent 

• Hoan Huynh, state representative 

• Bushra Amiwala, Skokie school board member 

• Howard Rosenblum, civil rights attorney 

• Miracle Jenkins, former aide to Jan Schakowsky 

• David Abrevaya, high school teacher 

• Bethany Johnson, Evanston resident  

• Justin Ford, environmental health and safety professional 

• Lauren Million, advocate for the homeless 

• Bruce Leon, Chicago 50th Ward Democratic committeeman. 

“The good is that that is democracy in action, the idea of choice,” said Melissa Mouritsen, Ph. D., a political scientist at College of Du Page. 

“Three to five, that’s OK,” she said. Fifteen? That’s different.  

“When that many candidates file, people tend to use what we call “heuristic” reasoning,” Mouritsen said. That is, mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive overload of too much to choose from.  

She said that voters faced with such multiple choices tend to gravitate to what they have an affinity for, i.e., “I’m a woman, I’m pro-choice, I’m a (this or that).” 

It’s human nature,” Mouritsen said. “This is what I do for a living, but even for me, sorting through this many (choices) is a huge job.”  

Among the key factors in most political races are money, organization, name recognition, a track record and endorsements. By those standards, Biss is doing nicely. He has a political track record, as does Fine, Simmons, Huynh and Amiwala. 

Campaign finance figures released by the FEC, July 16 show Biss has pulled up neck and neck with internet influencer Abughazaleh after second-quarter figures put him at $703,000 raised. Meanwhile Fine, Biss’ former colleague in the Illinois General Assembly, posted a rather tepid $262,805.  

A fourth hopeful who recently entered the race, Leon, reported $610,000 raised, all from a loan he made to his campaign. No one else has come close to reaching six figures. 

“People say money isn’t everything,” Mouritsen said, noting the high-profile upset win by Alexandra Ocasio Cortez over a veteran incumbent in 2018. 

“That’s the exception that proves the rule,” Mouritsen said. “In the vast majority of cases, it’s money.”  

And still, it’s not just money that matters. The support of other elected officials and basic campaign organization often makes or breaks a campaign. Mouritsen said people should look at endorsements of officials at the township and county levels for evidence of a candidate’s strength or weakness. 

Fine has received numerous endorsements. But Biss is the clear leader, benefiting from his relationships developed as mayor, state representative, and a candidate for governor in 2018. Most recently he was endorsed by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren; that came on the heels of his endorsement by the politically potent Chicago 47th Ward Democratic organization.  

The 47th Ward is renowned for its ability to get out the vote, and that takes organization. Besides her academic expertise in the electoral process, Mouritsen has run successfully for a seat on her local school board. For all her academic understanding, she said, the experience was an eye opener for her.  

“People underestimate the ground game, and that’s where elections are won and lost,” Mouritsen said. “Until you do it, it’s easy to underestimate what’s involved. Before I went out there, I didn’t realize all that it took.” 

Abughazaleh is a 26-year-old internet personality who’s never run for elected office before, but has attracted widespread attention. A now month-old poll she commissioned by MDW Communications, back when the field was much smaller, found that Biss led with 17 percent and had nearly 60 percent name recognition. Abughazaleh was second with 10 percent and 36 percent name recognition, Fine a close third with 8 percent and 38 percent name recognition.  

Abughazaleh posted the poll results on her website, in rather breathless fashion on June 23, calling it “HUGE NEWS!!!!” and “incredible!”  

Meanwhile, Biss’ campaign manager George Lundgren, who clearly noticed that 53 percent of the poll’s respondents were “undecided,” used no exclamation points and no all caps in his emailed comment to the Evanston RoundTable. 

“While it’s nice to see confirmation that (Biss) is the frontrunner in this race, there is a long way to go before voters have their final say,” he said.  

So, will any of the lesser-known, less-experienced and less-funded candidates read the writing on the wall and drop out, Mouritsen was asked. 

“I don’t have a good answer for that,” she replied, saying some candidates’ very lack of experience may blind them to hard political realities. 

“Someone who hasn’t done this before might believe they can (succeed) with less.”  

Mouritsen referred to a 2022 study by the University of California-Irvine that found that candidates with past political experience are more likely to read the tea leaves and drop out sooner.  

And novices?  

“It will take running to show them what they need,” she said.  

And what they will learn is that electoral politics is a process having far more to do with getting out and knocking on doors than just clicking “like” on an internet post.  

“It’s the organizational structure, who do you have in the field, who’s doing your canvassing” Mouritsen said.