Exit Interviews: Local Congressional candidates proud to counter divisive politics

A blaze of St. Patrick’s Day and election night activity has burned out in downtown Wilmette.

It’s 10:40 p.m., and on a dim and quiet Central Avenue, parking, for once, is plentiful in front of The Wilmette Theatre. Inside the community venue, Phil Andrew is issuing goodbyes and thank-yous to the remaining guests of the watch party punctuating his candidacy for the Illinois 9th Congressional District’s Democratic nomination.

Standing tall in a near-empty theater, Andrew expresses pride in his campaign’s message and the 8,000 or so district residents who supported it.

“I feel good about the team we built. I feel good about the voters we engaged. I feel good about the classy, ethical way that we’ve done this and shown people you can do politics in a different way,” he said. “I’m proud of those things and very proud of this team we’ve put together.”

That pride did not make Andrew, who finished fifth in a uniquely large field, the race’s victor. Fifteen hopefuls were balloted in a race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky as the district’s Democratic nominee. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss won the nomination, collecting nearly 30% of the vote in what turned into a three-person race with Kat Abughazaleh (26.3%) and Ill. Sen. Laura Fine (20%).

The 9th Congressional is vast, in a circuitous way. It covers Evanston and Skokie, some of the North Side and much of Wilmette, before winding west and north through Northfield, Glenview, Arlington Heights, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove and way over in Algonquin.

It’s also diverse and one of the country’s bluest districts. Schakowsky has represented the district since 1998, facing little competition since — only squaring off with primary opponents twice (2008, 2012) and handily defeating Republican challengers time and time again.

Once Schakowsky announced her retirement, Biss and Fine were early entrants into the race. More and more followed. Andrew, of Wilmette, and Bushra Amiwala, of Skokie, were among them and were both newcomers to mainstream politics. They are also locals, both raised and educated in the district.

The two are not an ideological match — Amiwala to the left of Andrew. And they boast unique backgrounds — Andrew, a former FBI negotiator and collegiate athlete; Amiwala, a financial professional and second-generation Pakastani-American. But on the campaign trail, they carried similar tones, each expressing a desire to uplift and build while also admonishing modern-political divisiveness.

“I feel incredibly grateful,” said Amiwala, who collected nearly 7,000 votes in her sixth-place effort. “I see the amount of people outside of every single polling place I visited that are either voting for the first time or registering to vote just for me, because our campaign is inspiring them to believe in something, to vote for something and not vote against something.”

Amiwala, 28, had previously tested the local political waters. She became a local School Board member (Skokie District 73.5) at age 21. A year before then, she ran for the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

On election night, Amiwala welcomed supporters to an intimate banquet room tucked in a commercial building in Glenview. Before the first round of results broke March 17, she had made 10 stops along a southern tour of the district.

As she readied to greet her supporters, Amiwala talked about the crux of her campaign: the importance of being a representative for those supporters, if only on the ballot and along the campaign trail.

“It’s so hard to imagine yourself in a space where there isn’t someone who looks like you represented,” she said. “… For me, it was something I was deeply passionate about, because it is all right as a citizen of this country to have our voices heard about who represents us in government and a lot of people who might be immigrants are disillusioned into thinking their voice (doesn’t) matter.”

Andrew was on a mission, too.

A Loyola Academy graduate, Andrew has been fighting for change since the day he was shot at home during the infamous Winnetka school shooting of 1988. He began fighting gun violence from his hospital bed and still does decades later. He spent 21 years as an FBI agent and owns a small business, PAX Group, that works to prevent violence and resolve conflict.

As the 9th’s Democratic primary race began to gain candidates, Andrew saw a familiar sight and sought to disrupt it, aiming to provide accountability “but without the rancor” and “divisive, dehumanizing language.”

“It’s always hard to go up against a political machine and career politicians,” he said. “That’s part of the challenge. That’s what’s wrong with politics today. That’s what drew us into this.

“What we’re seeing is there is a struggle against the inertia of politics as usual. … (Low turnout) is a big barrier. We’ve made politics so unattractive and seemingly unresponsive that I think a lot of people don’t see it as a place where their vote can be heard.”

Andrew and Amiwala declined to speculate much on their political futures, but both touted continued worked in their communities. And maybe they can still contribute in the 9th general, which is Nov. 3. Both Andrew and Amiwala expressed an openness to sharing with Biss, the Democratic nominee, any lessons learned during their many touchpoints throughout the 9th District.

Whether that happens or not is up in the air, but either way, they agree that the best way to get the job done is not alone.

“The only way to take on this hard work is to build those healthy, diverse teams and not think that you’re the smartest person in the room,” Andrew said. “I find this humbling the number of experts I’ve come across who live in this district that could really bring a lot of strength and insight in how we tackle big problems, and the diversity of it too.

“That’s a unique skill, to bring people together who disagree and formulate a strategy to move ahead. So I’m hopeful, because we live in an era where we’re really divided.”

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