US Midterms 2026
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La Shawn Ford, a Democrat who has represented the 8th district in the Illinois House of Representatives since 2007, is his party's nominee for Illinois's open 7th congressional district seat in 2026 against Republican Chad Koppie.
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The page appears to discuss who is running for the U.S. House in the Chicago area for the 2026 midterms, including information on candidates and elections in various districts.
La Shawn Ford is a chief sponsor of the Illinois House bill related to a taxing proposal on millionaires to fund schools. The proposal was re-referred to the House Rules Committee on July 1.
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La Shawn Ford was born on February 28, 1972, in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project and grew up in the Austin community, where his family moved when he was two years old. His mother was an unwed teenager, and he was adopted by his grandmother at birth.
Ford graduated from Weber High School and attended the Niles College Seminary before earning a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education, with a minor in political science, from Loyola University Chicago, where he played basketball. He also attended the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Ford has a daughter and is Catholic.
La Shawn Ford worked as a history teacher and basketball coach for Chicago Public Schools at Bridge Elementary School, then became a licensed real estate broker and founded Ford Desired Real Estate in 2001. He also served as a Democratic precinct captain in the neighborhood where he grew up.
Ford was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2007, defeating incumbent Calvin Giles in the Democratic primary and winning the general election with 83% of the vote.
Over his tenure he has chaired committees including Financial Institutions and Restorative Justice, and he created the Distressed Counties and Communities Task Force.
In 2012 Ford was indicted on federal bank fraud charges, and in 2014 prosecutors dropped all 17 felony counts in exchange for his guilty plea to a single misdemeanor income tax charge. He ran for mayor of Chicago in 2019, placing eleventh of fourteen candidates with 1.01% of the vote in the first round.
Illinois's 7th congressional district covers Chicago's West Side and downtown, including Austin and the Loop, along with the villages of Oak Park and Maywood.
The seat is open because Democratic incumbent Danny Davis, re-elected with 83.3% of the vote in 2024, announced his retirement after La Shawn Ford entered the race.
Ford, who filed to run on May 21, 2025, won a 13-candidate Democratic primary with 23.7% of the vote, ahead of Chicago city treasurer Melissa Conyears Ervin at 20.5% and Anthony Driver Jr. at 11.6%.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Republican Chad Koppie, a member of the Kane County Regional Board of Schools and perennial candidate.
