Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2026
|
← 2024
|
| Illinois' 8th Congressional District |
|---|
 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: November 3, 2025 |
| Primary: March 17, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
6 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th Illinois elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
All U.S. House districts, including the 8th Congressional District of Illinois, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. The primary was March 17, 2026. The filing deadline was November 3, 2025.
This is one of 56 open races for the U.S. House of Representatives this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, 21 Democrats and 35 Republicans are not running for re-election. In 2024, 45 incumbents — 24 Democrats and 21 Republicans — did not seek re-election.
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 120th Congress. All 435 U.S. House districts are up for election.
Currently, Republicans have a 218-214 majority with three vacancies in the chamber.[1] To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here. For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:
- Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2026 (March 17 Democratic primary)
- Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2026 (March 17 Republican primary)
Candidates and election results
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Melissa Bean and Jennifer Davis are running in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Melissa Bean (D) | |
 | Jennifer Davis (R)  | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Melissa Bean | 31.8 | 21,301 |
 | Junaid Ahmed | 26.7 | 17,841 | |
 | Dan Tully | 12.7 | 8,481 | |
 | Yasmeen Bankole | 9.6 | 6,407 | |
 | Kevin Morrison | 8.9 | 5,973 | |
 | Neil Khot | 6.7 | 4,516 | |
 | Sanjyot Dunung | 2.5 | 1,664 | |
 | Ryan Vetticad | 1.1 | 750 | |
| Total votes: 66,933 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joseph Wentzel (D)
- Christ Kallas (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Jennifer Davis defeated Mark Rice, Kevin Ake, and Herbert Hebein in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jennifer Davis | 51.4 | 14,307 |
 | Mark Rice | 40.3 | 11,197 | |
 | Kevin Ake | 4.5 | 1,239 | |
| Herbert Hebein | 3.8 | 1,067 | ||
| Total votes: 27,810 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Submitted Biography: "Jennifer Davis, a trailblazing entrepreneur and political outsider, is running for Illinois’ 8th Congressional District to bring common-sense business practices and family-first values to Washington. At just 17, she co-founded Davisware with her husband, Dan, and grew it into a global leader in the field of service technology. Her best-selling book, Living Exponentially in Life and Business, shares her blueprint for building success without sacrificing joy. Rooted in the rural values of hard work, faith, and family, Jennifer has led with grit and generosity—as a mother of ten, a coach of dozens of youth teams, and a community servant. After guiding Davisware through the pandemic and partnering with Serent Capital, she launched BExponential to help women thrive personally and professionally. Now, Jennifer is bringing her proven record of building from scratch to Congress. She’ll cut red tape, champion small businesses, and support families with practical, common-sense solutions. With a servant’s heart and a record of results, Jennifer Davis will bring fresh leadership to Washington—focused on empowering entrepreneurs, strengthening communities, and securing a brighter future for the next generation."
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Illinois
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Survey responses from candidates in this race
Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
| Collapse all
Jennifer Davis (R)
Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson keep raising taxes, taking more from hardworking people and forcing tough choices on housing, groceries, and healthcare. This has to stop.
As your Congresswoman, I’ll make life affordable: cutting federal taxes on working families, easing regulations that hurt small businesses and entrepreneurs, and passing policies that lower living costs—so you keep more of your money and can thrive.
We need common-sense solutions to support families, empower entrepreneurs, and restore the American Dream.
Small businesses employ 44% of Illinois’ workforce but struggle with high taxes, red tape, and limited capital—why 8 in 10 fail.
America faces nearly 2 cyberattacks per person daily—unprecedented and rising. These threats hit home, targeting kids and the elderly via predators, scammers, and hostile actors exploiting trust. I will partner with the President, Congress, and innovators to pass laws creating a Digital Dome—a national shield expanding defense to protect families, communities, and our military from cyberattacks, online predators, and manipulation. No surveillance or control—just real security for freedom. She’ll also drive energy independence by expanding U.S. oil, gas, and renewables, cutting reliance on adversaries, strengthening our economy, and saving Illinois families at the pump.
Jennifer Davis (R)
Jennifer Davis (R)
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junaid Ahmed | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Yasmeen Bankole | Democratic Party | $447,367 | $326,552 | $120,815 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Melissa Bean | Democratic Party | $1,642,588 | $1,233,975 | $408,613 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Sanjyot Dunung | Democratic Party | $362,734 | $343,368 | $19,366 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Neil Khot | Democratic Party | $1,983,578 | $1,814,812 | $168,766 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Kevin Morrison | Democratic Party | $626,020 | $565,978 | $60,041 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Dan Tully | Democratic Party | $705,085 | $453,371 | $251,714 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Ryan Vetticad | Democratic Party | $121,961 | $33,952 | $88,009 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Kevin Ake | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Jennifer Davis | Republican Party | $621,895 | $411,027 | $210,868 | As of February 25, 2026 |
| Herbert Hebein | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Mark Rice | Republican Party | $139,700 | $123,334 | $117,979 | As of February 25, 2026 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
|||||
General election race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[2]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[3][4][5]
| Race ratings: Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2026 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| 3/31/2026 | 3/24/2026 | 3/17/2026 | 3/10/2026 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | |||||
| Decision Desk HQ and The Hill | Pending | Pending | Pending | Pending | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Democratic | Safe Democratic | Safe Democratic | Safe Democratic | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week. | |||||||||
Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Illinois in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Illinois, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| Illinois | U.S. House | Established parties | Not less than .5% (.005) of the qualified primary electors of their party in the congressional district | N/A | 11/3/2025 | Source |
| Illinois | U.S. House | Independents | Not less than 5% nor more than 8% (or 50 more than the minimum, whichever is greater) of the total number of persons who voted at the last regular general election within the congressional district. | N/A | 5/26/2026 | Source |
District history
The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.
General election
General election for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) defeated Mark Rice (R) in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) | 57.1 | 172,920 |
| | Mark Rice (R) | 42.9 | 130,153 | |
| Total votes: 303,073 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jorge Briseno (Independent)
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Raja Krishnamoorthi | 100.0 | 34,640 |
| Total votes: 34,640 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary
Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Mark Rice (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 19, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Rice | 100.0 | 24,362 |
| Total votes: 24,362 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Abhijit Patel (R)
General election
General election for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) defeated Chris Dargis (R) in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) | 56.9 | 117,880 |
 | Chris Dargis (R) | 43.1 | 89,335 | |
| Total votes: 207,215 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mohammed Faheem (Independent)
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) defeated Junaid Ahmed (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Raja Krishnamoorthi | 70.3 | 29,933 |
| | Junaid Ahmed | 29.7 | 12,627 | |
| Total votes: 42,560 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary
Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Chris Dargis (R) defeated Phillip Wood (R), Peter Kopsaftis (R), Karen Kolodziej (R), and Chad Koppie (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Chris Dargis | 32.0 | 11,055 |
 | Phillip Wood | 18.9 | 6,529 | |
 | Peter Kopsaftis | 17.6 | 6,101 | |
| Karen Kolodziej | 17.4 | 6,017 | ||
 | Chad Koppie | 14.1 | 4,886 | |
| Total votes: 34,588 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) defeated Preston Nelson (L) in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) | 73.2 | 186,251 |
 | Preston Nelson (L) | 26.8 | 68,327 | |
| Total votes: 254,578 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) defeated W. Thomas La Fontaine Olson (D) and Inam Hussain (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 17, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Raja Krishnamoorthi | 79.9 | 51,829 |
 | W. Thomas La Fontaine Olson | 13.0 | 8,441 | |
| Inam Hussain | 7.0 | 4,563 | ||
| Total votes: 64,833 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mohammed Faheem (D)
Republican primary
The Republican primary scheduled for March 17, 2020, was canceled.
District analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.
- District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
- Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
- State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.
This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Illinois.
Post-filing deadline analysis
The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Illinois in 2026. Information below was calculated on Nov. 3, 2025, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.
One hundred five candidates — 69 Democrats and 36 Republicans — ran for Illinois’ 17 U.S. House districts. That’s 6.2 candidates per district. There were 2.7 candidates per district in 2024, 5.6 in 2022, 4.1 in 2020, 4.4 in 2018, 2.7 in 2016, and 2.8 in 2014.
This was the highest total number of candidates who ran for the U.S. House since 2014.
Five districts were open in 2026. There were no districts open in 2024, four in 2022, one in 2020, one in 2018, one in 2016, and none in 2014. Reps. Jesus Garcia (D-4th), Danny K. Davis (D-7th), and Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) retired from public office. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-8th) and Robin Kelly (D-2nd) ran for the U.S. Senate.
Twenty primaries — nine Democratic and 11 Republican — were contested in 2026. In total, there were 11 contested primaries in 2024, 19 in 2022, 21 in 2020, 20 in 2018, 14 in 2016, and nine in 2014.
Twenty candidates — 16 Democrats and four Republicans — ran for the open 9th district, the most candidates that ran for a district in 2026.
Five incumbents — four Democrats and one Republican — faced primary challengers in 2026. There were five incumbents in a contested primary in 2024, seven in 2022, 10 in 2020, seven in 2018, seven in 2016, and three in 2014.
Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all 17 districts, meaning no districts were guaranteed to either party.Partisan Voter Index
Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+5. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 5 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Illinois' 8th the 163rd most Democratic district nationally.[6]
2024 presidential election results
The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.
Kamala Harris  | Donald Trump  |
|---|---|
| 53.0% | 46.0% |
Presidential voting history
- See also: Presidential election in Illinois, 2024
Illinois presidential election results (1900-2024)
- 17 Democratic wins
- 15 Republican wins
| Year | 1900 | 1904 | 1908 | 1912 | 1916 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1940 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Party | R | R | R | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of Illinois' congressional delegation as of October 2025.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Illinois | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | U.S. Senate | U.S. House | Total |
| Democratic | 2 | 14 | 16 |
| Republican | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancies | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 17 | 19 |
State executive
The table below displays the officeholders in Illinois' top four state executive offices as of October 2025.
| Office | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| Governor | J.B. Pritzker |
| Lieutenant Governor | Juliana Stratton |
| Secretary of State | Alexi Giannoulias |
| Attorney General | Kwame Raoul |
State legislature
Illinois State Senate
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 40 | |
| Republican Party | 19 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 59 | |
Illinois House of Representatives
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 78 | |
| Republican Party | 40 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 118 | |
Trifecta control
Illinois Party Control: 1992-2025
Nineteen years of Democratic trifectas • Two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| Senate | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| House | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ A majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, when there are no vacancies, is 218 seats.
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025
