Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss Picked By Local Democrats To Lead Party

EVANSTON, IL — Mayor Daniel Biss is set to assume a new role within the Evanston Democratic Party after party officials voted last week to nominate him as the local party's committeeperson.

The decision, pending final approval by the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee, puts Biss in a leadership role heading into presidential and congressional elections in the fall.

Biss's nomination follows the resignation of Eamon Kelly, who had led the Democratic Party of Evanston, or DPOE, for the past decade.

Kelly endorsed Biss to be his successor and serve the rest of his term, which extends through the 2026 gubernatorial primary.

Biss thanked Kelly for his confidence and for his service in the role in a statement released by the mayor's political committee.

"I thought long and hard before deciding whether to take this on — after all, the job of mayor is pretty all-consuming as it is," Biss said.

"But in a sense, this is a homecoming," he said. "My first serious political activity was during the 2004 presidential campaign, working with DPOE to harness our community's passion to stop a historically dangerous president from being elected to a second term."

Biss said he and other Evanston Democrats organized thousands of volunteers who traveled to Wisconsin two decades ago and helped swing the state in favor of former Sen. John Kerry's failed attempt to deny former President George W. Bush a second term in the White House.

"The one part of the 2004 story that we can't let happen again is the outcome," Biss said.

"So given everything at stake in this election, with the knowledge of what Evanston Democrats can accomplish when we all work together and do our part," he said, "I felt called to take on this responsibility and do everything I can to strengthen and unify our party and re-elect President Biden."

The DPOE board reportedly voted 7-5 last week to approve Biss's nomination. Deputy Committeeperson Christian Sorenson, a legislative staffer for State Rep. Robyn Gabel, also sought the nomination.

The Cook County Democratic Party's convention, at which Biss could formally be seated as one of the party's 80 commiteepeople, is expected to take place after next months' primary.

Biss has yet to declare whether he plans to run for reelection as mayor next year, but campaign finance data shows his committee reported an influx of political contributions soon after he cast a series of deciding votes in favor of Northwestern University's request to host concerts at a rebuilt Ryan Field.

Starting in late November, the Friends of Daniel Biss committee reported 30 donations worth more than $66,000 combined. It had almost $130,000 in available cash on hand as of last month, according to the Reform for Illinois campaign finance database.

The donations begun rolling in shortly after the formation of a political committee seeking his ouster. Representatives of the Better than Biss committee say it will support "select mayoral candidates" to run against the first-term mayor.

Attorney Parielle Davis, the founder of the anti-Biss committee, told the Evanston RoundTable that no one wants to announced their candidacy so early. Biss did not directly answer questions from the RoundTable regarding whether he had started making fundraising calls.

Evanston's April 2025 election is set to be the first in the state to include ranked-choice voting.