In a set of 15-minute Zoom interviews hosted by a climate activist group over the summer, Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala and State Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago) both made a promise they did not keep.

A member of the Sunrise Movement’s Chicago chapter posed a question to the Illinois’ 9th Congressional District contenders: If polling indicated they had little to no chance of winning the primary by a month before primary Election Day, would they commit to dropping out of the race to consolidate progressive support?

Both said yes, Sunrise Chicago wrote in a March 18 statement to The Daily. Notes from those interviews reviewed by The Daily confirm its claims.

However, neither Amiwala nor Huynh exited the race, even after Sunrise Chicago sent reminder emails in late February, which were shared with The Daily by Amiwala’s campaign. The pair ultimately drew about 7% of the final vote combined, unofficial totals indicate.

Mayor Daniel Biss beat out Sunrise Chicago’s endorsed candidate, progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh, by less than 4 points. 

It is unclear how Amiwala or Huynh dropping out would have affected the results, but some have pointed to Abughazaleh’s loss as an example of how recent left-wing candidates have split the field by failing to consolidate the progressive vote.

At an Oct. 8 town hall, months after her interview with Sunrise Chicago, Amiwala repeated her promise to exit the primary and endorse another candidate if there was no clear path to victory.

“If there comes a point at which the pro-Bushra campaign does not have the steam that maybe another one does, it’s not about me,” she told the West Ridge crowd. “And consolidation is the responsible thing to do at that point.”

Huynh was invited to the town hall but did not attend.

Lincolnwood resident Muqtadar Ahmed, who attended the October town hall and asked the question that spurred Amiwala’s public commitment, said he was “super disappointed” by her failure to exit the primary.

“If Bushra had dropped out and fully aligned and started to rally behind Kat, it would have potentially created additional momentum for people that stood on the sidelines,” Ahmed said.

Amiwala told The Daily at an election night party on March 17 that she “never” made any commitments to withdraw from the race, describing calls for her to do so as “entitlement.”

Later on election night, campaign operations manager Elliott Parrish acknowledged in a statement to The Daily that Amiwala had made at least one commitment, though it was “not formal.”

Still, he wrote, she did not break the commitment because she “did have a viable path to victory” throughout the campaign.

“She built a broad coalition of local grassroots supporters, faith communities and advocacy organizations that was unclaimed by other candidates in this race,” Parrish wrote. “It is therefore inappropriate to suggest that Bushra was obligated to withdraw.”

Some political strategists who followed the race contested the claim that Amiwala could have won. Political consultant Frank Calabrese said Amiwala at most “maybe” had a viable path “early on.”

“But later in the race, it was clear that Kat Abughazaleh was the choice of the most progressive voters in the district, especially based in Chicago,” he added.

Still, it is unclear whether Abughazaleh was the second-choice candidate for Amiwala voters. In his statement, Parrish pointed to a late-February poll commissioned by the Evanston RoundTable, which indicated that a significant number of Amiwala voters may not have supported Abughazaleh had Amiwala dropped out.

Glenview resident Paige Fullman, who voted for Amiwala, said that Abughazaleh did not seem to be a popular second choice for 9th District voters.

“I think she kind of hit a ceiling,” Fullman said. “And because of that, I don’t take issue with Bushra, one, not dropping out, or, two, allegedly going back on her word, because I don’t think you can compare Kat to Bushra.”

Huynh’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding his commitment to withdraw from the race.

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