We enjoyed our endorsement meeting for the 8th, mainly a northwest suburban district now with Democratic leanings, featuring two candidates we endorsed in the primaries, Democrat Melissa Bean and Republican Jennifer Davis.
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Bean, 64, survived a bruising primary battle with a lot of attacks from her left and for her perceived support for Israel in its battle against Hamas. This time around, Bean told us that “this is a very urgent moment for this country with a lot of things we never thought we would see,” a reference to Donald Trump’s rejection of longstanding American norms. “I’ve been hearing a lot of anxiety and concerns,” she went on “about the lack of checks and balances, but also about how young people are feeling very hopeless.” She said that addressing that lack of hope would be an important task and she argued that the new Congress will need to set about passing laws so as to “codify” what used to be accepted norms. We agree that this will be a better use of lawmakers’ time than an endless series of investigations.
Davis, an energetic and smart businesswoman in the tech industry, is one of the better political outsiders running for elected office in the state, and if Democrats had gone with a far-left choice instead of Bean we would have had no trouble endorsing this Republican moderate and mother of 10. The 55-year-old had many interesting things to say about the need for AI controls, and she comes with greater tech expertise than most candidates. She also said the difference between her and Bean is that she is someone “who has signed the front of people’s paychecks and not just the back.”
Fair enough. But we’ve endorsed Bean, who represented the 8th for three terms beginning in 2005 until she was defeated by Republican Joe Walsh in the 2010 election, several times before.
We admire her pragmatism, her principles and her guts.
Melissa Bean is endorsed.
Read all of the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsements for the 2026 Illinois general election here.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].
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