Krishnamoorthi 'Honored and Humbled' to be Picked for 8th District

In the race for the open 8th Congressional District seat, business owner Raja Krishnamoorthi, who received the endorsement of President Barack Obama and had a clear campaign funding advantage, won over Peter DiCianni, a current commissioner on the DuPage County Board.

With 393 of 465 precincts reporting at of 10:30 p.m., Krishnamoorthi pulled in 119,720 votes over Dicianni's 86,540 votes to win the seat formerly occupied by Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth ran, and won, the Illinois U.S. Senate seat over incumbent Mark Kirk on Tuesday night. The Associated Press declared Krishnamoorthi the winner late Tuesday night.

• Tammy Duckworth Defeats Mark Kirk: Illinois U.S. Senate Election Results

Krishnamoorthi, the president of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc., lost to Tammy Duckworth in the 2012 Democratic primary for the 8th Congressional District. He returned to face DiCianni once the seat opened up. In a late night tweet Tuesday, Krishnamoorthi thanked voters and said he was "honored and humbled" to be selected for the 8th Congressional District seat.

Open seats can offer challengers a chance to run for political office without having to vy against an incumbent, but, on the downside, those open seats are also typically very expensive, Matt Streb, political science professor at Northern Illinois University, told Northern Public Radio. And Krishnamoorthi, a former deputy state treasurer and assistant attorney general, had a clear advantage during this election in that department.

"Krishnamoorthi has about $3.3 million," Streb told NPR in an Oct. 25 interview. "DiCianni is around $250,000."

Krishamoorthi has been described as more fiscally moderate than most Democrats.

He served as issues director for Barack Obama’s successful 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate. He ran for Congress on a platform that included protecting Social Security and Medicare, making higher education more affordable, and bolstering small businesses, according to his online bio page

He is advocating policies to help working families, including equal pay for equal work, paid sick and maternity leave, raising the federal minimum wage, and making college more affordable. Raja is also a staunch defender of women’s reproductive freedom.

In recent weeks, the two candidates debated whether the minimum wage should be raised.

Dicanni said he was open to increasing minimum wage to $10 but said that workers would be better served through better tech training for high school students, according to Chicago Tonight. He also called for tuition reimbursement for those who major and then get jobs in high-demand public service jobs, for example, in healthcare.

Krishnamoorthi is looking to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 or even higher in more expensive areas, according to the Daily Herald. He has criticized Dicanni on just being “open” to a wage hike and said he is dodging taking a solid position on the issue.

Krishnamoorthi on Oct. 27 received the endorsement of President Barack Obama.

In a web video released by Raja’s campaign, President Obama describes Krishnamoorthi as a “good friend” who helped Obama “develop ideas for building an economy that works for everyone” when Obama ran for the U.S. Senate and Raja served as Obama’s policy advisor.
Krishnamoorthi has also received endorsements from The Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald and Chicago Sun-Times.

And in a race where Republican candidates have been pushed to voice their support, or opposition, to Donald Trump, Krishnamoorthi and Dicanni were asked where they stand on the Republican presidential candidate during a debate taped last weekend at at the ABC 7 Chicago News studio.

Krishnamoorthi, of Schaumburg, said he is “foursquare in favor of Hillary Clinton,” and pushed Dicanni, who he said has been dodging questions on whether he supports Trump, to take a stand on the matter, according to the Daily Herald.

Dicanni said he has not agreed on a lot of things Trump has said, the newspaper reports.

"I will respect both individuals for who they are. They both have challenges," Dicanni said. "I will work with whoever the nominee is and I will pass bipartisan legislation, which is so important, that we focus on people, not politics. And Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are politics."

The 8th District includes all or parts of Addison, Arlington Heights, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Carpentersville, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, Elmhurst, Glendale Heights, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Itasca, Lombard, Medinah, Oakbrook Terrace, Palatine, Roselle, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, South Barrington, Streamwood, Villa Park and Wood Dale.

Twitter Updates from Candidates on Election Day

You can keep up-to-date on both candidates Twitter feeds by following Raja Krishnamoorthi @RajaForCongress or Petre DiCanni @PeteDiCianni.