Illinois's 6th Congressional District Race: Primary Election 2026

IL06—Democrat Sean Casten stunned Republicans when he beat long-time incumbent Peter Roskam in 2018 under the Illinois 6th Congressional District’s old configuration. He’s since proven that he can win voters in Cook County, when he lost all but 20-percent of the old IL-06 district following the 2020 decennial census remap.

In an incumbent vs. incumbent primary against Marie Newman, who represented the former IL-03, Casten handily beat one-term House member Newman in a rare summer primary in 2022 disrupted by the pandemic. Casten is now seeking his fifth term in Congress.

Four candidates are vying for their party’s nomination in the Illinois primary on Tuesday, March 17.

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, and extends into the Chicago neighborhoods of Clearing, Beverly and Mount Greenwood; and in DuPage, Downers Grove, Oak Brook, Oak Brook Terrace, Lisle, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, Elmhurst Darien, Hinsdale and Willow Springs.

Democratic Primary

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten is looking to retain his U.S. House seat in the Illinois 6th Congressional District as he seeks the Democratic nomination. His primary challenger, Joseph “Joey” Ruzevich, says he is the candidate of the moment who will bring a progressive voice to the party. The Illinois gubernatorial primary is this Tuesday, March 17.

Casten, 54, is seeking his fifth term in Congress after toppling a long-time, conservative Republican, Peter Roskam, in 2018. Casten has been dogged by pro-Palestinian protesters, who have shut down some of his town halls in LaGrange and Downers Grove over the congressman’s support for money for Israel. Israel’s bombing of Gaza, in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, is said to have killed an estimated 71,000 Palestinian civilians, many of them women and children.

Casten defended his voting record on military aid to Israel at a town hall last summer in Evergreen Park.

“I voted against packages when it wasn’t tied with material for Gaza,” Casten said. “I voted against some extensions and to not provide 2000-pound bombs with blasts covering four football fields. That’s not a surgical precision mark.”

The Downers Grove Democrat says the question he’s most frequently asked by 6th District constituents is: “Will our democracy going to survive?”

Casten maintains that the era of President Donald Trump has scared people who’ve watched “ICE murder an American citizen” in Minneapolis, watched women lose their rights in the Dobbs decision, and seen a mob descend on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“It has left many of us wondering if we are better than what we have seen from the White House. I think we are,” Casten said in his Patch candidate survey. “But we will survive because of our nation's collective decency and willingness to organize ourselves into collective action and fix problems. The response to Donald Trump's excesses in 2016 was not to abandon hope. It was to march for women, for science, for our lives. And to organize and vote.”

Casten also calls Trump “a narcissistic, convicted felon and adjudicated rapist who has abused his position to grift billions of dollars for his family while diminishing the US’ standing in the world …”

“Out of respect for your readers and his office, I will refrain from sharing a more fulsome view of my disagreements with him as a President, and as a human being,” he said.

Ruzevich, 29, a computer software engineer from Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, is banking on voters’ disenchantment with the Democratic Party establishment. Lacking the financial resources of the incumbent, he’s relied on shoe leather to get the word out about his campaign, holding affordability workshops, coffee meet-and-greets, and canvassing door to door.

“When knocking on doors, the most common thing I hear is that people are barely scraping by and costs continue to rise,” Ruzevich said in his Patch candidate survey. “We have seen the price of groceries, healthcare, electricity, housing, and pretty much everything essential to live in America has doubled and tripled over the last five years.”

He maintains that he’s not bought and paid for by special interest groups.

“That's the biggest difference,” Ruzevich said. “Rep. Casten has accepted over $1.5 million from the AIPAC lobby and is not willing to stand up loudly against Israel dragging the US into a war with Iran …”

Republican Primary

Republican Niki Conforti, of Glen Ellyn, is running for her party’s nomination to represent the Illinois 6th Congressional District. She shares the Republican primary ballot with Oak Lawn resident Skylar Duensing, a freelance journalist and nonprofit executive. Both are challenging four-term Democratic incumbent Sean Casten.

This is Conforti’s third run for the seat. She is an energy consultant, and before that she worked in healthcare on the administration side of large health systems. She has also owned a staffing business and says she understands the challenges facing small businesses.

Conforti said witnessing the adverse effects on the community due to the influx of the liberal agenda is why she’s running for Congress. Being concerned compelled her to take a stand, preserve the sanctity of our liberties and freedoms, and push back on the progressive left, according to her campaign bio.

She says the Affordable Healthcare Act, or “Obamacare,” has been anything but affordable for most Americans and small businesses.

“Having worked in the healthcare industry, I will push for real reform that will increase transparency in billing, which will foster competition among healthcare systems,” Conforti says. “I also believe consumers should have more options in the marketplace, and their policies should be transportable across state lines. I will work to cut costs by giving families more flexibility in their healthcare coverage options.”

She claims the economy is stronger than it has been recently but remains fragile. She will work to pass legislation that will stimulate growth and quicken the economic recovery.

“Tariffs will help bring back manufacturing and add jobs, but more needs to be done,” Conforti said.

At 25, Skylar Duensing is the minimum age required to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. He graduated from Joliet Catholic Academy and has studied political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Liberty University.

Duensing is the president and founder of The United States Patriot Society, as well as pastor and founder of Guardians Of Divinity Ministries. He’s also started Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapters of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s organization at colleges and universities around the nation, including at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

On his first day in Congress, if elected, Duensing told Shaw Local that he would “immediately work to lower taxes and make life more affordable, secure our borders and enhance public safety, and promote job growth and American manufacturing.”

Conforti and Duensing are both pro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother.

Find Your Polling Place

If you’re a Chicago voter, you can type in your home address at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioner’s site to find your polling place. Chicago voters can also see a sample ballot for a preview of the races they can vote in. If you requested a mail-in-ballot, you can still submit it to one of these drop boxesor mail it, but it must be postmarked no later than March 17 to count.

Suburban Cook County voters can find their polling place and who is on their ballot by plugging their address into the Cook County Clerk’s site. Again, if you requested a mail-in ballot, it must be postmarked no later than March 17 to count.

In DuPage County, voters can find their polling location by using the clerk’s voter look-up tool. If you have requested a mail-in ballot, it must be postmarked no later than March 17 to count.