Jan Schakowsky secures early victory, pledges resilience

When U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky entered the Fire House Grill early Tuesday night, the Democrat was greeted by applause and congratulations.

Unlike other elections in Illinois and nationwide, the winner of the 9th congressional district became evident early on in the night. By 8:30 p.m., state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg took the stage at the Fire House Grill, 750 Chicago Ave., to announce that Schakowsky's win was a guarantee.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting at 3:55 a.m., Suburban Cook County listed Schakowsky with 60.83 percent of the vote and Republican challenger Joel Pollak with 37.04 percent.

Schakowsky held a watch party in conjunction with state representative Robyn Gabel . Gabel ran unopposed and won a full two-year term in the Illinois General Assembly.

Close to 100 people attended, including Schoenberg, Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and several aldermen from the Evanston City Council.

Prior to Schakowsky's arrival at the watch party, a small group gathered at the top floor of the restaurant and monitored election results from all over the country on the television sets.

Shortly after 8:30 p.m., Schoemberg announced to the crowd that Schakowsky had close to a 2-to-1 vote ratio on Pollak in the election. Schakowsky followed Schoenberg's words with her own.

"I pledge to you that I will be fighting harder than ever for the values represented in this community," Schakowsky said. "And what I want you to pledge to me is that you will not give up, you will not be discouraged. We will continue to stand up strong for the things we believe in."

Schakowsky mentioned in her speech that news outlets predicted the Democrats will lose the majority in the House. According to polling expert Nate Silver of New York Times blog Five Thirty Eight, Republicans are expected to gain 65 seats in that chamber.

"That means we're going to have to stand together stronger and tougher than ever before, standing up for our progressive values and continuing to move forward with an agenda," Schakowsky told the attendees. "We have won some very important victories around the country, and we're just going to have to maximize those."

Northwestern student Andrew Abtahi said he decided to work on Schakowsky's campaign because she represents the community well.

"I'm from this district," the Weinberg freshman said. "I'm from Niles, and I've been in support of Jan for a while now."

He added that volunteering for the campaign was also a good chance to learn more about politics.

Zahra Somani, who works at Schakowsky's Chicago office, said early in the night that she was optimistic about how the elections would turn out for the representative.

"I think it'll turn out great," she said. "She's loved by a lot of people, and I'm not worried that she's not going to win."

Although Pollak lost the election, his watch party at the Holiday Inn in Skokie lasted two hours past his concession speech at 9:30 p.m., with almost all of the 200 attendees staying until the end. Pollak said the positive energy of his volunteers was the best part of his campaign.

"You don't see too many losing campaigns have a party like this," Pollak said. "We've become a family and I love them all."

Pollak said his future plans include traveling to the Bahamas for his honeymoon and going back to work, though he does have his eye on the 2012 9th District election.

"I think there is a lot of enthusiasm for running again, and that's something we are thinking about," he said.

Weinberg freshman Alex Jakubowski was very involved with Pollak's campaign from the beginning and eventually became a staff member, working up to 20 hours a day. He said he is very hopeful for Pollak's future.

"We'll see what the 9th district looks like in a couple years and we'll see who's representing it," Jakuboski said.

Charles Johnson, a student at Claremont McKenna College, has known Pollak for four years and came to Illinois from California to work on Pollak's campaign.

"Joel is the same guy on the campaign trail as he was as a law student being nice to me," Johnson said. "It's a very rare trait in human beings, let alone politicians."

kprentiss@u.northwestern.edu

krisbonifacio2013@u.northwestern.edu