ILLINOIS — It's a rematch between Glen Ellyn Republican challenger Niki Conforti and incumbent Downers Grove Democrat Sean Casten in the Illinois 6th Congressional District. The two candidates also faced each other in 2024.
Casten is looking to retain the congressional seat he's held since 2019, representing IL-06; Conforti is looking to flip it from "the radical" Casten and return it to the Republicans who held the seat 12 years before to Casten's upset win in 2018.
The 6th District includes all or sections of the suburban Cook County communities of Alsip, Chicago Ridge, Palos Heights, Worth, Crestwood, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Tinley Park, Orland Park, Orland Hills, Palos Hills, Palos Heights, Hickory Hills, Justice; extending into the Chicago neighborhoods of Clearing, Beverly and Mount Greenwood; and in DuPage County, Downers Grove, Oak Brook, Oak Brook Terrace, Lisle, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, Elmhurst, Darien, Hinsdale and Willow Springs.
Conforti Vows To 'Fight For You'
Will three be a charm for Niki Conforti? This is her third run for the IL-06 seat, who lost the 2022 GOP primary against then-Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau. She won her party's nod in the 2024 primary, but lost to Casten, who captured 54 percent of the vote to Conforti's 46 percent (196,647 to 166,116).
A single mom and lifelong resident of the western suburbs, Conforti holds an MBA in healthcare from George Washington University and a bachelor's in economics from the University of Chicago. She has been an energy consultant for the past decade; before that, she worked in large healthcare systems, and has owned a small temporary agency. Her political experience has been as an elected committee person for Milton Township in Dupage County.
Conforti is the daughter of an immigrant and comes from a long line of veterans, including her grandfather and uncles who fought in World War II, and her father is a Korean War veteran. Her maternal grandfather came through Ellis Island and fought in World War II to gain citizenship, Confort said in her campaign bio.
She claimed to have witnessed the adverse effects on the district due to the influx of the liberal agenda. Being concerned, she was compelled to run to preserve the sanctity of our liberties and freedoms, and push back on the progressive left.
"When Biden took office in January 2021 and signed a myriad of executive orders shortly after taking his oath, this country took a sharp turn to the left," Conforti said. "I knew instinctively that we were on a path that was concerning to me. It was then I decided to stand up to protect the greatness of this country and run for office."
Conforti said she will bring a "district first" mentality if elected and will use the power of her vote to protect family and faith-based values and promote peace. She said she will work toward energy independence.
She still considered "kitchen table" issues as the most pressing concerns for the people in her district. Likewise, she blames high gas and diesel prices, skyrocketing grocery costs, and utilities on current failed Democrat policies.
"When Biden took office in January 2021 and signed a myriad of executive orders shortly after taking his oath, this country took a sharp turn to the left," Conforti said. "I knew instinctively that we were on a path that was concerning to me. It was then I decided to stand up to protect the greatness of this country and run for office."
Conforti opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. She told Shaw Local she doesn't believe any conduct of the current Trump Administration needs to be investigated, DOGE didn't go far enough in its recommendations, and more investigations are needed into government fraud.
Conforti criticized Casten following his vote last July against an amendment that would have stripped $3.3 billion in military assistance to Israel, and questioned his ties to special interest groups.
"At a time when families across Illinois's 6th District are struggling to keep up with rising grocery bills, housing costs, healthcare expenses, and energy prices, Sean Casten once again chose to prioritize sending billions of taxpayer dollars overseas instead of addressing the challenges facing the people he was elected to represent," Conforti said in a written statement.
As the top Republican vote-getter in the 2024 election for all 14 Illinois challenger congressional races against seated Democrats. If elected, Conforti said she would use the power she will use the power of her vote to protect family and faith-based values and promote peace.
"My opponent and I could not be more different. The voters will have a real choice at the polls," Conforti said. "My opponent is for big government, high taxes, open borders—and I am not. I support small government, free markets, lower taxes and a secure border."
Casten Say's He's 'Delivering Commonsense Solutions'
Incumbent Sean Casten is running for his fifth term in the Illinois 6th Congressional District on the Democratic ticket. Casten said, "These are not normal times," and that in his travels around the district the dominant issue has seen rising angst about the state of the country specifically, the sense that the future our parents promised us no longer seems attainable.
"Sometimes it's a nervousness about inflation chewing up all their spare income," Casten said. "Sometimes it's the fear that an armed ICE officer can't be trusted to protect their rights. Sometimes it's the fatalism that comes when you believe that the laws you live by don't seem to constrain the rich and the well-connected."
Before he was elected in 2018, Casten said he spent 20 years in the private sector starting and running companies dedicated to profitably reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He claimed to have built, grown, and sold organizations that provided good jobs, slashed energy costs, and reduced pollution before coming to Congress.
"I have delivered nearly $60 million back to the district since getting elected in 2018 in the form of direct federal investments and direct cash to constituents who needed help accessing federal benefits."
Casten served on the House climate committee that wrote what became the Inflation Reduction Act. He said his expertise as a CEO and entrepreneur was recognized when he was selected as Vice Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee.
He said U.S. energy policy often puts the interests of producers over the interests of consumers.
"It's critical to ensure that large loads, like data centers, pay their fair share for all the grid upgrades that utilities have to provide—and are on the hook if they shut down their operations before those costs are fully recovered."
He doesn't consider artificial intelligence, or AI, to be universally bad, but to the contrary, capable of amazing things, but calls constraining how AI technology is put to work "a moral choice."
"What is different is the character of the AI CEOs, who have not only implied that it is impossible for them to slow down the development of these tools but also to ask Congress for express liability waivers for their actions," Casten said. "And, I suppose, the fact that political leaders, including the president, seem to share their view that those who hold great power have no obligation to wield that power responsibly."
Casten said he doesn't support the current administration's reckless immigration enforcement :in Chicagoland, Minnesota, or anywhere else."
He doesn't support tariffs for constitutional and economic reasons. Regarding the war on Iran, he said the eight months since the Trump Administration has yet to provide Congress with consistent reasoning on the imminent threat posed by Iran.
"At various times, President Trump has suggested this war was to end Iran's nuclear program and/or to bring about regime change," Casten said. "Neither of these goals have been accomplished."
In parting, he quoted Abraham Lincoln, who said that the purpose of government is to do for the people what they can't readily do for themselves.
"What I love about this job is that it allows me to do that—from small things like steering local investments in our communities to huge things like working to craft the COVID fiscal rescue package and accelerate the deployment of lower-cost energy infrastructure. What I fear about this job is how many of my colleagues choose to demonize public service—or worse, to use the awesome power of our government to impose harm on the weakest and most vulnerable."
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