The 7th District Congressional Race Looks Like It’s a West Sider’s to Lose 

Redistricted from the 6th after Cardiss Collins was elected in 1973, the 7th Congressional District has been known for over 50 years as a West Side district, particularly a district represented by a Black West Sider with deep West Side political and organizing roots. 

Collins and her husband, George W. Collins, who died in a plane crash in 1972, shortly before the redistricting, was alderman of the rough-and-tumble 24th Ward covering North Lawndale. In 1964, he replaced 24th Ward Ald. Benjamin Lewis, who was mysteriously murdered in his ward office the previous year. As a couple, the Collinses presided over the 24th Ward Democratic Organization. 

After Collins, Danny K. Davis—a former alderman and Cook County commissioner—has become the face of the district. Even more than his predecessor, Davis has become synonymous with the West Side, where he’s lived and had a district office his entire political career. 

The would-be congressman’s commitment to remaining on the West Side prompted praise from legendary Chicago columnist Vernon Jarrett way back in 1979. 

“Davis, 38, has lived and worked on the West Side since 1961,” Jarrett wrote. “He went back to his native state to earn a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas A.M.&N. College and later a master’s degree at Chicago State University. He earned a Ph.D. at the Union Graduate School in Yellow Springs, Ohio. 

“Davis could have moved away from the West Side on his way up the ladder of professional recognition,” Jarrett added. “But he chose to live there.” 

Voters seem poised to elect another West Side resident to federal office. Internal polls shared with The Culture and fundraising disclosures show the top three candidates in the race are West Side residents, two of whom are established elected officials. 

A poll released in early January by Dr. Thomas Fisher, a South Side candidate for the 7th District, showed 8th District state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, an Austin resident, with 23%, followed by Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, of Garfield Park, with 15%, and activist Kina Collins, of Austin, rounding out the top three with 12%. As of March 2, the Fisher poll was the only internal poll that we could find that’s been publicly released, but it’s consistent with other candidates’ internal polling, insiders with multiple campaigns told us. 

River North attorney and real estate developer Jason Friedman, who has led the way in fundraising for much of the campaign cycle, polls at 10%. Fisher and Oak Park attorney Richard Boykin polled at 4%. Labor organizer Anthony Driver, a South Side resident, and attorney Reed Showalter, a West Loop resident born and raised in Oak Park, were at 1% in the Fisher poll. 

According to political insiders in multiple campaigns, however, this is still a race that’s up for grabs, given that roughly a third of likely voters are uncommitted.