In the endorsement business, it is both rare and heartening to be genuinely excited about what a candidate for the United States Congress, and a political newcomer to boot, might achieve, not just for the people of his district but for a nation badly in need of healing and fresh ways of looking at its debilitating problems.
We feel that way about the 51-year-old Thomas Fisher, an emergency room doctor at University of Chicago Medicine, a former White House fellow in the Department of Health and Human Services during the administration of Barack Obama and the most impressive of the more than a dozen candidates running in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ 7th District.
Fisher is not well-known to voters. But his life story is compelling: When Fisher was growing up in Hyde Park, his father was a dermatologist and his mother was a Chicago Public Schools social worker. Fisher was a graduate of Kenwood Academy High School, went to Dartmouth, qualified as a doctor at the University of Chicago and did a master’s in public health at Harvard, then returning to work in the UChicago ER. He’s stayed ever since. Fisher, who is single, battled night and day for victims of the COVID-19 crisis and also, he told us, has spent years trying to save too many residents of the 7th District from death due to gun violence. Understandably, he has strong feelings there.
As people hear the sophistication of Fisher’s ideas on health care reform, which are grounded in realpolitik but also come with full awareness of the extent of the health care crisis in the 7th District, and his determination to address the disparity in life expectancies within his district, we believe support will grow.
Already, he carries the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood and the 314 Action Fund, which aims to bring scientists and medical professionals into government. We see such well-known Chicago names as Martin Nesbitt, co-CEO of private equity firm Vistria Group, and former Commerce Cecretary Bill Daley on his list of donors. Emails currently are circulating from groups like Leadership Greater Chicago, arguing that Fisher is one of the city’s major Black talents, an intellectual heavyweight whose eloquence will allow him to speak effectively to people from all walks of life in the extraordinarily diverse 7th District and who could harness Obama-like optimism to improve his constituents’ lives. We could see Fisher play a leading role guiding America out of its healthcare crisis, given the chance.
We get ahead of ourselves there; Fisher would merely be one of 435 in the House of Representatives. Still, the winner of the Democratic primary of the 7th District is a virtual certainty to be sworn into office. The 7th is known as the bluest district in Illinois and is of course the seat of Danny K. Davis, who announced last summer that he would not seek reelection after nearly 30 years in office. Fisher is well aware that he will hardly command Davis’ seniority but told us “this is one of the safest Democratic seats in the nation and thus you can speak with a full throat. You can project power by virtue of the seat itself.”
Indeed. Like many districts in our gerrymandered time, the 7th meanders far, encompassing a good chunk of the city of Chicago, including all or parts of River North, the Loop, the West Loop and such neighborhoods as East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and West Englewood, among others. The 7th also includes all or part of inner suburban Broadview, Bellwood, Forest Park, Hillside, Oak Park, La Grange Park, Maywood, River Forest, Berkeley and Westchester.
“I have learned,” Fisher told us, noting that his donor list includes Republicans, “that hard work does not guarantee success. Some of my poorest patients have incredible intellectual ability but just have had no opportunity. Too often Democrats run like they are filling out a grant application. I think we should let people know we care. I will do the ‘block and tackle’ in the district, but I am also interested in transformational change.”
We met with Fisher and almost all of his opponents in a series of in-person meetings. Fisher has many talented opponents.
Richard Boykin, 57, was Davis’ chief of staff and was a Cook County commissioner. He’s also a regular contributor to this newspaper’s Opinion section. Boykin told us his vast political experience at Davis’ side would help him “hit the ground running” in Washington, where he already spends some of his time. We don’t doubt that would be the case and consider the affable Boykin a candidate with a genuine dedication to public service who would have compassion for all his constituents. We also admire Boykin as a freethinker who would be a congressman willing and able to reach across the aisle.
Jason Friedman, who is the son of Chicago developer Albert Friedman and told us he is a “fourth-generation Chicagoan” who worked for both the Clinton White House and Sen. Dick Durbin, has many views that are aligned with those of this board. He emphasized to us the importance of “igniting growth” in the region and said his business experience had taught him how to “deliver services,” one on one, if necessary. But he also said he was running because he believes Chicago is “worth investing in” and that he wants to “stand up for our community.”
As the head of Friedman Properties, which has an extensive stake in the health of (especially) Chicago’s Near North Side, Friedman, with his pro-business sentiments and record of job creation, will be a logical choice for many who worry about downtown Chicago’s economic health, and we believed him when he told us he would be focused on “getting things done” for the district’s South and West Side residents, too. But Friedman, 51, certainly would be a big change in this particular seat; perhaps too much of one.
Anabella Mendoza, a 27-year-old progressive and the youngest of these candidates, impressed us with her commitment to social justice and in our meeting emphasized immigrant rights and what she deemed “the affordability crisis” in the district. She’s short on experience, though. Reed Showalter, 32, is a progressive with a resume that lists time as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, as a counsel in the U.S. Justice Department, and as a senior policy adviser in the White House National Economic Council. Showalter is known for his support of LGBTQ issues and his opposition to Israeli actions in Gaza. He also emphasized health care issues, telling us that “when you can’t go to the doctor, you are not free.” Showalter said he has “dedicated his life to trying to take on the conversations about economic power.”
We similarly enjoyed hearing from Jazmin J. Robinson, 38, a well-prepared human resources professional who lacks political experience and said she would apply many of her stills from her profession to this race. Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, 50, who made the decision to challenge Davis only to lose in 2024, is running again. She also told us she would serve her district well. We’ve written critically in the past about Conyears-Ervin’s ethics and her relationship with her staff and also her choice not to invest the city’s money in safe U.S. Treasury securities as a way to protest Donald Trump. She told us that was merely a temporary action.
Native Texan Rory Hoskins, 53, speaks our language, and the first Black mayor of Forest Park emphasized his support for small businesses and the economic success story of his village. And it was good to hear from South Side native Anthony Driver Jr., 32, another rising Chicago-based leader engaged in many important issues with a personality that matches his surname. A member of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability and former executive director of the Service Employees International Union, Driver told us he would give voice to the many in his district who feel “unheard.” Driver, a dedicated political strategist and activist, has endorsements from several labor unions and progressive aldermen; his day in elected office will come.
Aside from the well-resourced Friedman, Fisher’s leading rival is most likely La Shawn Ford, a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 8th District on the West Side since 2007 and endorsed by Danny Davis. Ford, 53, who was raised in the Cabrini-Green housing project, also has a compelling personal story and he emphasized both his experience and his determination to serve the district and oppose President Donald Trump’s ICE incursions (one of many issues on which all the Democratic candidates agreed), although we did not see the same fire in his belly for the 7th District in our meeting as we did with some of the others around our table.
Other candidates running include David Ehrlich and Felix Tello; the latter joined our meeting and is a colorful personality with a binder full of ideas for change.
On the Republican side, the candidates are Chad Koppie, a retired pilot and perennial candidate who has said he does not believe Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, which is absurd, and Patricia “P Rae” Easley, a WVON media personality who has spent time in Senegal and whose sharp words for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on the issue of migrant housing (she was opposed to the extending of large resources) have made some headlines. Since neither of those candidates have a chance of winning the seat or can compete with the Democratic slate on their personal merits, we are not making an endorsement on that side of the ticket.
Some Republicans in the district, given that this seat hasn’t been open for decades, may be tempted to grab a Democratic ballot. They may well consider Friedman to be a viable choice and a better conduit for a pro-growth agenda. That said, we think Fisher will be a pragmatist and a political moderate and reach across the aisle far more than Davis was wont to do. So we think he is the better choice for Republicans, too, even if they will have to swallow Fisher’s stated interest in taxing unrealized gains and some other policies in the Democratic mainstream.
We don’t agree with all of Fisher’s ideas, either. But this is the best moderate, mission-driven candidate with the resume, communication skills and the longtime commitment to the district in which he has saved many lives bolstering his candidacy. We saw firsthand his ability in just a few minutes to convey a sophisticated analysis of the U.S. healthcare system’s myriad problems in terms that any American could understand.
His election would honor the past of the 7th District and be a bold bet on its future.
Thomas Fisher has our endorsement.
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