Evanston voters will help choose a new member of Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 3, when Democrat Daniel Biss and Republican John Elleson face off for the open Illinois 9th Congressional District seat.

The seat is open for the first time since 1999, following the retirement of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who held it for 14 terms, according to ABC 7 Chicago. No Republican has won the district since 1946, according to CBS News Chicago.

Polls across Illinois open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., according to Fox 32 Chicago. Voters in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to cast their ballots after the polls officially close.

The candidates

Biss, 49, served as Evanston's mayor starting in 2021. Before that, he spent six years in the Illinois Senate and two in the Illinois House. He is a former mathematics professor at the University of Chicago. He also ran for governor in 2018, finishing second in the Democratic primary to JB Pritzker, according to CBS News Chicago.

Biss won a crowded 15-candidate Democratic primary in March with 29.4% of the vote, according to certified results from the Illinois State Board of Elections. He said restoring cuts to health care would be his top priority if elected, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

"If I'm lucky enough to win, I'll take the oath of office three days into those cuts. People are gonna be hurting already on day one. We're gonna have to move fast," Biss said, according to ABC 7.

Elleson is the pastor of Lakewood Chapel, a nondenominational Christian church in Arlington Heights that he founded more than 20 years ago, according to ABC 7. He won the Republican primary with 48.9% of the vote over three opponents, according to CBS News Chicago.

Elleson ran for the 9th District seat twice before. In 2018, he lost to Schakowsky with 26.5% of the vote. In 2022, he was removed from the ballot for failing to collect enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions, CBS News Chicago reported.

His platform includes fighting crime, limiting government and addressing the national debt, according to ABC 7. He said he does not consider himself a major supporter of the MAGA movement but said President Donald Trump has served the country well.

"It really forces me to get out and talk to people. And see the other side. And it turned out there's not as many differences as we think," Elleson said of campaigning, according to ABC 7.

As of late October, Elleson had not formed a committee to officially raise or spend money during the campaign, the Evanston RoundTable reported.

The district

The 9th District stretches from Chicago's North Side neighborhoods, including Rogers Park, Edgewater and Uptown, through northern suburbs such as Evanston, Skokie and Glenview, and out to portions of Lake and McHenry counties, according to WTTW.

The two candidates held their only joint forum on Sept. 24 at Skokie Public Library, answering questions from League of Women Voters chapters, the RoundTable reported.

Where to find results

General election results are not yet available. Once polls close Tuesday evening, voters can check returns on the Illinois State Board of Elections results page.