Yumeka Brown

This candidate is participating in a 2026 battleground election. Click here to read more about that election.

Yumeka Brown (Democratic Party) is a member of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago in Illinois. She assumed office on December 6, 2022. Her current term ends on December 5, 2028.

Brown (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. She is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 17, 2026.^[source]

2026 battleground election

See also: Illinois' 2nd Congressional District election, 2026 (March 17 Democratic primary)

Ballotpedia identified the March 17, 2026, Democratic primary as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.

Eleven candidates are running in the Democratic primary for Illinois' 2nd Congressional District on March 17, 2026. As of November 2025, Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D), Donna Miller (D), Robert Peters (D), and Willie Preston (D) led in fundraising and local media attention.^[1]

Incumbent Robin Kelly (D), first elected in 2013, is running for U.S. Senate rather than seeking re-election, leaving the seat open. Kelly won re-election in 2024 68%–32%. The major race rating outlets rated the race as Solid Democratic, meaning the winner of this primary is likely to win the general election.

Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D) is a former nonprofit executive who represented the District from 1995 to 2012. Jackson served 23 months in prison after being found guilty in 2013 of spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses.^[2] Jackson says he was "was one of the most effective members of Congress, delivering nearly a billion in grants and appropriations to the District."^[3]

Miller was elected to the Cook County Commission in 2018. Miller's professional experience includes working as an independent consultant in sales training and marketing.^[4] Miller says she has "spent her career serving the community and fighting to lower costs for working families, increase opportunity, and expand access to healthcare, particularly for women and communities of color."^[5]

Peters is a majority whip in the Illinois Senate and was elected to the chamber in 2018. He previously worked as a community organizer with the nonprofit group Chicago Votes. Peters says he is running "to bring bold, progressive leadership to Washington on behalf of the communities of Illinois’ 2nd District."^[6]

Preston is the chairman of the Illinois Senate Black Caucus and was first elected to the chamber in 2022. Preston's professional experience includes owning a construction firm and working as a janitor and carpenter.^[7] Preston says he is running "because I know what it means to struggle – and to overcome. Together, we're going to bring back jobs and businesses to the Southland."^[8]

Also running in the primary are Toni Brown (D), Yumeka Brown (D), Eric France (D), Patrick Keating (D), Sidney Moore (D), Adal Regis (D), and Jeremy Young (D).

Elections

2026

General election

The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.

General election for U.S. House Illinois District 2

Ashley Banks is running in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 2 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Ashley Banks (Independent)

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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 2

The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2 on March 17, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Toni Brown
		Yumeka Brown
		Eric France
		Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
		Patrick Keating
		Donna Miller
		Sidney Moore
		Robert Peters
		Willie Preston
		Adal Regis

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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

Robin Kelly (D)
Jeremy Young (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2

Mike Noack is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 2 on March 17, 2026.

		Candidate
		Mike Noack

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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

Ashley Ramos (R)
Calvin Coleman (R)

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.

Election campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Yumeka Brown	Democratic Party	$69,400	$17,448	$51,953	As of September 30, 2025
Toni Brown	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Eric France	Democratic Party	$13,091	$11,283	$1,808	As of June 30, 2025
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.	Democratic Party	$95,029	$40,237	$54,792	As of September 30, 2025
Patrick Keating	Democratic Party	$11,516	$1,559	$9,957	As of December 31, 2025
Donna Miller	Democratic Party	$242,494	$90,523	$151,971	As of September 30, 2025
Sidney Moore	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Robert Peters	Democratic Party	$693,183	$347,495	$345,688	As of September 30, 2025
Willie Preston	Democratic Party	$79,354	$34,977	$44,377	As of September 30, 2025
Adal Regis	Democratic Party	$66,615	$47,934	$10,824	As of September 30, 2025
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." According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. * Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[9]^[10]^[11]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Yumeka Brown Eric France Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. Patrick Keating Donna Miller Robert Peters Willie Preston Adal Regis Jeremy Young	OpenSecrets Federal Election Commission

Note: As of November 19, 2025, Toni Brown (D) and Sidney Moore (D) had not filed as candidates with the Federal Election Commission.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.