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Junaid Ahmed
Junaid Ahmed (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Illinois' 8th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 17, 2026.[source]
Biography
Ahmed received a bachelor's degree in computer science from DePaul University and a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago. He worked in professional services from 2000 to 2007 and in information technology consulting from 2007 to 2021.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Junaid Ahmed | |
 | Yasmeen Bankole | |
 | Melissa Bean | |
 | Sanjyot Dunung | |
 | Christ Kallas  | |
 | Neil Khot | |
 | Kevin Morrison | |
 | Dan Tully | |
 | Ryan Vetticad | |
| Joseph Wentzel | ||
| ||||
| = 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 election
Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Kevin Ake, Jennifer Davis, and Mark Rice are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8 on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Kevin Ake | |
| Jennifer Davis | ||
 | Mark Rice | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ahmed received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
- U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D)
2022
See also: Illinois' 8th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi defeated Chris Dargis 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 election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi defeated Junaid Ahmed 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 election
Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 8
Chris Dargis defeated Phillip Wood, Peter Kopsaftis, Karen Kolodziej, and Chad Koppie 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Junaid Ahmed has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Junaid Ahmed, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
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2022
Junaid Ahmed completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ahmed's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Illinois’ 8th district deserves someone who will demand more for their constituents, and represent everyone, not just the wealthy. Unfortunately, we are being represented by a political class who are more interested in representing the needs of their corporate donors and special interest groups than in representing the needs of the hard working families of the 8th district. To deliver real change for our district we must get money out of politics, end Citizens United, and vote corporate candidates out of office.
- I have always believed that public service is a personal duty, whether or not you are a member of government. My activism has shown me the issues that everyday Americans face, and has given me the tools I need to enact policies that will actually help people.
- I believe that economic justice, healthcare, and education are basic human rights. Tuition-free education, Medicare for All, and a federal jobs program are policies that are supported by the vast majority of voters on both sides of the aisle and yet year after year, working people continue to struggle with no relief offered from our representatives.
We need a new breed of politicians who are willing to reign in the greed of corporations who pay less in taxes than our essential workers, like nurses and teachers.
Her father was retired and had Medicare. Her mother had recently lost her job and was in her mid-50’s, meaning finding a new job would be difficult. Because of this, her and her daughters were without insurance. In the richest country on Earth, losing your job should never mean losing your healthcare.
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.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
