Republican candidate enters race against Democratic incumbent for North Shore congressional District 58

A new candidate has entered the race to represent a state congressional district that encompasses Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Glencoe and a stretch of other north-suburban communities.

Jamie Moorhead, a Lake Forest resident, real estate lawyer and member of the Lake Forest Plan Commission, announced in August that he is campaigning for Illinois House of Representatives District 58 as a Republican in the November 2026 midterm election. 

Moorhead potentially would face off in the general election against the six-year incumbent Bob Morgan, a Deerfield resident, attorney and Democrat who was first elected to represent District 58 in 2018. Morgan was reelected in 2020, 2022 and 2024 and wrote on social media in July he was again seeking reelection.

District 58 encompasses parts of Cook County and Lake County. Its southern boundary line stretches into Glencoe; to the west, it includes Mettawa and to the north, Lake Bluff.

“Illinois needs leaders who are guided by principle, not partisanship,” Moorhead said in a news release announcing his candidacy. “I believe we can restore trust in government by focusing on what unites us—and that starts by bringing moderates from both sides of the aisle together.”

Moorhead described himself as a Deerfield native, moderate Republican and small business owner frustrated by political polarization and gridlock. He aims to pursue “commonsense policies” that would appeal to other moderate Republicans, independents and centrist Democrats. 

His list of priorities includes fiscal stability, tax relief, economic growth, a focus away from “social and union agendas of a loud few,” and “sound conservation, natural resource, environmental, and energy policies.”

Moorhead’s campaign website shows he attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette before he went to Georgetown and eventually became a lawyer and in 2012, the founder of the Moorhead Law Group, a Chicago-based law firm that specializes in leasing practices across the country. 

Moorhead also serves on the Lake Forest Plan Commission, which reviews requests related to the city’s zoning and land subdivisions. 

Before that, he served on the city’s Zoning Board for over six years, helped update Lake Forest’s Central Business District plan and has been involved with the Misericordia Home’s SIBS Program since 1991, a page from Moorhead’s law firm shows.  

Morgan grew up in Richton Park, a south suburb of Chicago and studied law at Northern Illinois University before he became a partner of Benesch Law, a firm that specializes in advising businesses, pharmacies and advocacy groups on healthcare regulations, a website from the law firm shows. 

Morgan then went on to work in state government and became the lead attorney for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and led the rollout of the Illinois Medical Cannabis Program, according to his campaign website. 

His priorities include civil rights, universal healthcare, the environment, “common sense gun safety” legislation and a strong education system. 

In the state House of Representatives, he sponsored a number of enacted bills that, among other things, impact health services, energy efficiency, carbon sequestration, early childhood literacy and the prevention of human trafficking, Bill Track 50, an online database that records legislation shows. 

Morgan also sponsored the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which was signed into law in 2023 and banned the sale, manufacture and distribution of assault-style firearms in Illinois.

In 2024, Morgan defeated the Republican candidate Carl Lambrecht in the general election with 67.9% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia, an online database for American elections. 

Democrat and Republican candidates for the Illinois House of Representatives must obtain 500-1,500 signatures by Nov. 3, 2025 in order to get on the ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, election. 

U.S. citizens can register to vote online at the Illinois State Board of Elections website or in person at the office of a local election authority, or at specific locations during early voting periods or on Election Day.

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