Democrat Melissa Bean will return to Congress after winning the Illinois 8th Congressional District race on Nov. 3, defeating Republican Jennifer Davis.
The Associated Press called the race at 8:31 p.m., according to Shaw Local. With 76% of the vote counted at 9:10 p.m., Bean held 64.8% of the total, the Chicago Tribune reported. Davis conceded shortly afterward.
The 8th District includes portions of Kane, DuPage and Cook counties. Bean, a Barrington Democrat, previously represented the district from 2005 to 2011. She first won the seat in 2004 by defeating longtime Republican incumbent Phil Crane, according to the Tribune. She lost in 2010 to Joe Walsh by just 291 votes during the Tea Party wave.
The seat opened because five-term incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Schaumburg Democrat, chose not to seek reelection. Krishnamoorthi instead ran for U.S. Senate but lost to Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in the Democratic primary last March.
Bean won a crowded Democratic primary earlier this year, defeating seven other candidates with 32% of the vote, according to Shaw Local. Her closest primary challenger, Junaid Ahmed, received 26.9%.
"The people are speaking, and they're speaking loudly," Bean said at her campaign headquarters on election night, according to the Tribune. "It's looking like I'm going back to Washington!"
Davis, of Huntley, ran a business software firm called Davisware with her husband before selling the company in 2022, according to Shaw Local. She positioned herself as a political outsider, according to her campaign site.
Davis called Bean to concede on election night, WTTW reported.
"While the outcome is not what we wanted, I am incredibly proud of the campaign and movement we built together," Davis said, according to the Tribune.
During her previous time in Congress, Bean was a member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition. She voted for the Affordable Care Act but also crossed party lines, voting to extend President George W. Bush's tax cuts and to repeal the estate tax, according to Shaw Local.
Bean campaigned on addressing housing, healthcare, energy and education costs, according to her campaign website. She said she would work to reverse Medicaid cuts and protect the ACA, Shaw Local reported.
NBC Chicago reported Bean is focused on restoring federal funding withheld by the Trump administration. She also highlighted a proposed "My Vote's Been Counted" bill that would let voters verify their ballots using technology similar to online banking.
Bean's campaign raised $2,457,207 in 2026 contributions, compared with $1,782,175 for Davis, according to Ballotpedia figures cited by Shaw Local.
Bean is set to take office in January 2027.
