Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and former FBI agent Phil Andrew, both candidates for Congress in the 9th congressional district, took the most aggressive stances to date in the race to replace Rep. Jan Schakowsky in Congress at a forum Wednesday night.

Directly confronting State Sen. Laura Fine for the first time, Biss questioned Fine on a list of her donors his campaign compiled who’ve previously supported President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

“I will say it’s troubling to me that Laura Fine has more donations from Trump donors than from our district, that raises a real question,” Biss said, sitting directly next to Fine Wednesday night, just days after financial disclosures showed a significant disparity in in-state vs. out-of-state financial support between the campaigns.

Biss also pushed Fine on AIPAC’s tacit support of her campaign for the first time publicly, in a response to questions about U.S.-Israeli relations after laying out his position on blocking military assistance to Israel, something Fine has said she disagrees with.

“If that’s what you agree with,” Biss said, “it should be very troubling that the overwhelming majority of Laura Fine’s donations come from AIPAC supporters, that she traveled the country in recent months, raising money from AIPAC, because she supports blank checks of military aid for Israel.”

Biss, son of an Israeli citizen with continued familial ties to the country, released a post last week after Evanston Now’s reporting about his communications with the powerful lobbying group early in the campaign, laying out what he described as the same policy position he submitted to AIPAC when asked about his stance on the issues. In it, he listed support for continuing a 2016 “Memorandum of Understanding” between the U.S. and Israel.

In September, Biss released a public position on the U.S. and Israel, stating that he supports the Block the Bombs Act, which would block offensive weapons transfers to the Israeli military, a contradiction of the 2016 MOU. Fine’s campaign criticized his shift in policy, calling it a “barely there record that he keeps changing.”

The direct attack Wednesday gained applause from few in the crowd of north Evanston Central Street Neighbors Association attendees, but an emphatic applause from fellow candidate Kat Abughazaleh, who has consistently criticized the Israeli government and AIPAC’s support of her opponent.

Defending her position, Fine said “anybody who’s investing in my campaign is investing in a 13-year record of someone who stood up to the biggest bullies in Springfield,” adding, “anybody who invests in my record knows exactly who I am.”

Biss shot back, “So is it a coincidence that so many Trump donors are funding your campaign?” to which Fine replied, “I don’t know who a Trump donor is who’s donating.”

Seizing on that response, Biss’ campaign issued a press release Wednesday just minutes after the forum, listing several of Fine’s donors who have previously contributed to Trump’s campaigns and AIPAC.

State Sen. Mike Simmons, who was not in attendance Wednesday but in Springfield for a three-day legislative session, had also released a list of Fine’s donors with histories of supporting Republicans this week, writing in a statement, “Neighborhoods like the one I grew up in are never going to see real progress if we elect Democrats who accept contributions from Republican megadonors.”

The list of donors includes billionaire investor Neil Kadisha, one of Los Angeles’ wealthiest men, who gave $2,000 to Fine’s campaign and has contributed thousands to Trump in past elections (among other Republicans and Democrats).

Also listed was a Beverly Hills attorney, James Fogelman, who contributed $3,500 to Fine in November and over $45,000 to Trump’s election committees in the past.

Speaking with reporters after the forum, Fine said she couldn’t speak to why donors who had previously supported Republicans, including Trump, would contribute to her, but said, “anybody who’s supporting my campaign is supporting my record, and I’m standing by my record.”

When asked, she didn’t say whether she would return or donate the contributions, a move Senate candidate Raja Krisnamoorthi took when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed a list of Trump allies backing his campaign, reiterating, “anybody who’s supporting my campaign is supporting my record, and I’m standing by my record, and you’d have to ask those people why they chose to donate to me, because I can’t speak for them.”

While Biss’ attacks were the most direct, other candidates also alluded to Fine at various points, seeming to draw attention after releasing an internal poll this week showing her tied with Biss in first place.

Andrew: “Petty corruptions” by Biss, Fine

Phil Andrew, the former FBI hostage negotiator from Wilmette, seemed to win over many in the audience Wednesday night, framing both Biss and Fine as career politicians too closely tied to Illinois’ political machine.

He directly called out Biss and Fine for running for both State Central Commiteeperson and Congress, which will lead their names to appear on the ballot twice in March, the former being a volunteer-level Democratic party position responsible for local organizing.

“There’s no one else that could do those jobs in our big, growing, big tent party?” Andrew asked, pointing out that running for the seats allows Biss and Fine to use their state-level campaign war chests, topped off in recent weeks with hundreds of thousands of more dollars, to run ads “insidiously,” as Andrew put it.

“That’s part of the problem,” Andrew said. “It’s these petty corruptions that people lose faith in and that’s why we lose elections and we don’t solve big problems.”

Both Biss and Fine defended their decisions to run for the seats, describing a passion for local organizing, though Andrew didn’t buy it.

“If we’re growing a party, why do they have to wear both hats?” he said. “They say they’re proud of it. This is an emergency. This is an absolute crisis. I’m running for one job, this job is gonna take all of my attention, for as much energy as I have, particularly in these next two years.”

He also seemed to criticize Biss’ line of attack against Fine, saying, “what’s absurd is how you are seeing two career politicians using an incredibly critical, political and nuanced issue as a political football, both trying to fundraise on it.”

Experience? Economy? New ideas?

All seven candidates who participated in Wednesday night’s forum seemed to be looking for places to distinguish themselves from one another, despite many agreeing on policy, for the most part.

In a rapid fire round, candidates were asked if they supported a series of policies, starting with Medicare for All, which Biss, Fine, Amiwala and Abughazaleh said yes to. Evanston economist Jeff Cohen and Andrew said no.

All seven agreed they wouldn’t have voted to end the government shutdown this past week, with Congressional Democrats hung up over whether or not to fund DHS and ICE.

On whether or not to tax unrealized gains, Biss, Amiwala and Abughazaleh all favored the suggestion. Fine seemed unsure, Andrew questioned the legality and Cohen said no.

On U.S. recognition of the State of Palestine, Abughazaleh, Amiwala, Biss and Andrew said yes, while Cohen noted he wants a “government to recognize,” and Fine simply said, “we need a two-state solution.”

Throughout the night, Cohen often pointed to his economist background as a point of experience for dealing with the federal government and said he intends to continue pushing the conversation toward the economy, in his eyes, the reason Democrats lost in 2024.

Andrew pointed to his experience in the government and in public service as a distinguishing feature between him and his opponents.

Amiwala, a Skokie School Board member and community activist, said policy differences aren’t the key in this year’s primary – it’s the “type of person,” pitching herself as a longtime community member who’s “not just trying to get to know their community during election season.”

And Abughazaleh, a political newcomer with a massive online following, pointed to a “sense of urgency” lacking in her party, noting she was “the only person who didn’t wait in line or ask permission to run,” launching her campaign before Schakowsky announced she’d retire.

“We need to be thinking outside the box,” she said.