Meet the Four Candidates With the Money, Organization, and Name Recognition to Win the 7th District 

Thirteen candidates are running in the Democratic Primary for 7th Congressional District representative, and two are running in the Republican Primary. Realistically, however, only a handful have a real shot at succeeding retiring Congressman Danny K. Davis. We selected four candidates with the best shot at the seat based on interviews with the candidates themselves, insiders from multiple campaigns, historic 7th District voting patterns (which explains why we didn’t profile the two Republican candidates), fundraising, and internal polls (particularly a poll released by Dr. Thomas Fisher, himself a Democratic candidate, showing how the race stood in January. While several months old, the poll provides a snapshot of how the race stood early this year in a contest without other publicly available polling. 

The profiles are based on the candidates’ answers to questionnaires put to them by the Chicago Sun-Times and The Culture, their campaign websites, Federal Election Commission financial data, reporting from local media outlets, and interviews conducted by The Culture over the last few weeks. The candidates are shown based on how they appear in the Fisher poll. 

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Candidate: La Shawn K. Ford 

Occupation: Self-employed; retiring 8th District state representative (in office since 2007) 

Age: 54

Residence: Austin (Chicago)

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Loyola University 

Key endorsements: U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (retiring incumbent, IL-07); Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch; Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford 

Campaign issues: He’s been vocal in his support for a public option, a government-backed health insurance plan designed to compete alongside private insurers in the market, aiming to lower premiums, increase coverage choices, and reduce administrative overhead. He’s also said, “We need to bring the United Nations in for hearings so we can get it on the Congressional record officially about genocide in Gaza.” Ford specifically supports the Law Enforcement Trust and Accountability Act, proposed legislation designed to improve police-community relations, enhance accountability, and establish national accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies. 

Total contributions and receipts received from April 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025: $407,320 

Biggest individual contributor: La Shawn K. Ford (loaned his campaign $100,000)

Cash on hand as of Dec. 31, 2025: $307,547 

Profile: On his campaign website, Ford touts a range of legislative accomplishments he led, including authoring the “African American Employment Plan Act to expand representation and opportunity in state government,” leading “Ban the Box” legislation that removes “barriers to state employment for people with nonviolent records,” and writing and passing “many of the state’s major record sealing, expungement, and bail cost reduction laws.” 

Critics point out: From the perspective of younger candidates like Kina Collins, Anthony Driver, and Reed Showalter—all of whom are in their early 30s and have expressed frustration with the Democratic Party’s unresponsiveness to the needs of real people, particularly in Black communities—Ford may be too connected to the flawed status quo. They also point to an endorsement by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), an organization famous for its hostility to police accountability. 

Counterpoint: In response, Ford said that “there’s no issue” those younger, progressive candidates have expressed “that I don’t.” Ford added that he even supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ primary run against Hillary Clinton and has served as a delegate for Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist. On the FOP endorsement, Ford said: “They endorsed me, I don’t endorse them. I’ve gotten money from them over the years, but I don’t vote for everything they ask. I have students (Ford is a former teacher) and family members who are police officers.”

Learn more: fordforcongress.com

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Candidate: Melissa Conyears-Ervin

Occupation: Chicago City Treasurer

Age: 50

Residence: Garfield Park

Education: Eastern Illinois University, BS; Roosevelt University, MBA

Key endorsements: Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Federation of Teachers 

Campaign issues: Conyears-Ervin has said, “We need a national commitment to affordable housing and programs that will support first-time homebuyers.” On immigration enforcement, she’s said she’ll help “advance legislation to require strict transparency, civil rights safeguards, and independent oversight before large-scale federal enforcement actions can begin.” On her website, she says she’ll work to “close [tax] loopholes, restore top income tax rates to their Obama-era levels, and back a federal tax on the wealthy.” 

Total contributions and receipts received from April 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025 (the latest reporting period): $336,916

Biggest individual contributor in latest reporting period: Michael Tadim, owner of TD Capital Investments ($7,000) 

Cash on hand as of Dec. 31, 2025: $216,943 

Profile: On her campaign website, Conyears-Ervin, who served as 15th District state representative before being elected treasurer, touts her passage of bills providing “more funding for affordable childcare and hundreds of millions in new, more equitable funding for Chicago Public Schools.” As treasurer, she “expanded free financial literacy programs like Building Wealth Today for Tomorrow and connected entrepreneurs to affordable capital and community lenders to help citizens secure their financial futures.” Conyears-Ervin is married to 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin. 

Critics point out: As treasurer, Conyears-Ervin agreed last year to pay a $30,000 fine to resolve two ethics cases. Before that settlement, the Chicago Board of Ethics had issued total fines of $70,000 in 2024 for 12 separate violations of the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance. And last year, a whistleblower in her office filed a “wide-ranging ethics complaint against her … alleging the congressional candidate’s political staff pushed a questionable plan to boycott U.S. Treasury bonds in protest of President Donald Trump, despite internal objections over its financial prudence.” The whistleblowers alleged that “interference from her political campaign shows the proposal was ‘messaging, not a legitimate investment-policy action.’” Her opponents have also pointed to millions of dollars from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and related dark-money groups that have helped her campaign, arguing that this may affect her independence in areas like Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. 

Counterpoint: Conyears-Ervin has consistently denied all wrongdoing, often characterizing the ethics investigations into her conduct in office as politically motivated “witch hunts.” Despite agreeing to pay significant fines, she maintains that her actions were not unethical. 

Learn more: melissaforcongress.org 

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Candidate: Kina Collins 

Occupation: Community organizer 

Age: 34 

Residence: Austin 

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Louisiana State University 

Total contributions and receipts received from April 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025: $39,471 

Biggest individual contributor: No itemized data was available on the FEC’s website; however, Collins loaned her campaign $8,807 

Cash on hand as of Dec. 31, 2025: $4,896 

Key endorsements: 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Oak Park Village Trustee Jenna Leving Jacobson 

Campaign issues: On her website, Collins writes that she supports “proposals like Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax, which would impose an annual tax on households with a net worth above $50 million.” She also supports ending ICE enforcement funding for “deportation activities, while redirecting essential functions, like human trafficking investigations, to other federal agencies.” 

Profile: On her website, Collins touts founding, in 2017, the “Chicago Neighborhood Alliance to empower residents in violence-impacted neighborhoods to build civic power and take action to change their communities.” She adds that, as “a nationally recognized leader in the movement to end gun violence, I have worked to hold corporations accountable and push for solutions that treat gun violence as a public health crisis, not just a policing issue.” As the former executive director of One Aim Illinois, she “led efforts to hold gun manufacturers and dealers accountable for fueling the flow of illegal guns into our neighborhoods. I also had the honor of serving on the Biden-Harris transition team, helping to shape the national agenda for gun violence prevention.” 

Critics point out: Collins’ opponents have pointed to the lack of money she’s raised as an indication of her viability as a candidate. As of Dec. 31, 2025, her campaign had less than $5,000 in cash on hand. They’ve also pointed to her age and having never been elected to office to argue that she’s not proven enough for Congress. 

Counterpoint: Collins argues that her name recognition throughout the district has proven more valuable than dollars. In the 2024 Democratic primary election, she placed a close third behind Treasurer Conyears-Ervin, garnering around 19% of the vote. Conyears-Ervin got 21% of the vote in a race Rep. Davis would win handily (he garnered 52% of the vote in a five-person race). Collins argues that she’s “the only non-career politician” and the only “true progressive” who has a shot at winning the seat, a claim she said is reinforced by the strength of her base in Oak Park, the progressive bastion of the 7th District. 

Learn more: kinacollinsil.com 

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Candidate: Jason Friedman

Occupation: Former President of Friedman Properties, Ltd. 

Age: 52 

Residence: River North 

Education: University of Wisconsin (BBA), London School of Economics (visiting student), Georgetown University Law Center (JD) 

Total contributions and receipts received from April 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025: $1,804,997 

Biggest individual contributor: Friedman gave his campaign $36,760 in the latest reporting period 

Key endorsements: Ravi Parakkat, founder of Takeout25 Oak Park 

Campaign issues: Has vowed to “fight to lower costs by [reversing] the sweeping cuts to programs like SNAP, Medicare, and Medicaid, reverse Trump’s destructive tariffs, and help create good-paying jobs.” He wants to “ban Trump’s ICE” and “hold ICE leaders and agents accountable.” 

Profile: On his website, Friedman touts his background “in public service and Democratic causes started at a young age as a student volunteer for Senator Paul Simon’s presidential campaign. Jason went on to work in the West Wing of President Bill Clinton’s White House and for Senator Dick Durbin on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and worked on the 1992 Democratic National Committee for President Clinton.” He also points to his private sector bona fides as a business owner, writing that he “knows what it takes to create good jobs and get things done in our community.” 

Critics point out: Friedman has consistently outraised his opponents throughout the race. By the end of last year, he had raised close to $2 million, with much of it coming from donors who “have made their living in finance, real estate or law,” WBEZ reported. Rep. Ford vocally criticized Friedman, accusing the real estate developer of “amassing funds from big contributors “to take advantage of … too many Black people being in the race, and ‘I’ll sneak in,’” WBEZ reported. Friedman’s opponents have also criticized him as out of touch with the Black communities in the 7th District. 

Counterpoint: Friedman has consistently touted his family’s history on what is now considered the Near West Side. “As the great-grandson of a peddler on Maxwell Street and the grandson of a hot dog stand owner on the West Side, I have deep roots in this community and want to go to Washington to defend our rights and bring relief to working families,” he writes on his campaign website. In an interview with WBEZ, Friedman said fundraising levels reflect “a strong desire to have a doer, someone who’s willing to stand up to fight, someone who’s willing to say that career politicians aren’t working for us anymore and aren’t fighting for us anymore and that Jason Friedman is a person who can get something done and deliver for this community.” He also touts his philanthropic work with Mount Sinai Hospital in North Lawndale. 

Learn more: friedmanforcongress.com