Incumbent U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi defeated Junaid Ahmed in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ 8th Congressional District on June 28, 2022.
According to unofficial results, Krishnamoorthi received 71% of the vote to Ahmed’s 29%.
Krishnamoorthi was first elected to represent the 8th District in 2016. Before entering office, Krishnamoorthi was a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis and president of a research and development company. He also worked as a policy director on Barack Obama’s (D) 2004 Senate campaign.
Krishnamoorthi, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, emphasized his experience in office and said he “worked his hardest to ensure other Americans have the same opportunities his family had to achieve the American Dream.” Krishnamoorthi said he “co-authored successful legislation to expand federal support for career and technical education” and “[advocated] for protecting Social Security and Medicare.” Krishnamoorthi received endorsements from the Chicago Tribune and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
As of June 8, 2022, Krishnamoorthi had raised $6.5 million and Ahmed had raised $1.1 million.
During the primary, Ahmed criticized Krishnamoorthi on the amount of money the incumbent raised, saying, “[W]e are being represented by a political class who are more interested in representing the needs of their corporate donors … than in representing the needs of the hard working families of the 8th district.”
In a debate, Krishnamoorthi said, “I raise as much as I can because I go after the special interests in Washington. … You can ask the rental car companies, the meat processing companies, the oil and gas companies that I’m now investigating what they think of me.”
Following redistricting, the 8th District remained in the Chicago area. At the time of the primary, three election forecasters rated the general election as Solid or Safe Democratic.
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