The congressional district covering downtown Chicago and much of the West Side is set to change hands for the first time in 30 years, and Democratic state Rep. La Shawn Ford looks to sail through his general election matchup and take the torch from retiring U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.

Ford, a longtime resident of the Austin neighborhood, calls himself a “progressive by survival.” In the Nov. 3 election in the racially and economically diverse, heavily Democratic 7th Congressional District, he faces Republican Chad Koppie, an 88-year-old frequent candidate who does not live in the district.

“By nature and by life, I’m a progressive,” Ford said. “I’ve had to fight for progressive ideas, and acceptance and change, for the existence of Black people and the unrepresented and unheard populations my whole life, even before I was elected.”

Koppie, who has made opposing abortion the center of his campaigns since the 1990s, has called hosting campaign events “futile” and has raised little money. The two candidates have not appeared together in a debate or forum and have no plans for one.

Davis, a Chicago Democrat, endorsed Ford in the March primary, helping him top a competitive field and withstand millions of dollars in spending, largely from outside interests, aimed at defeating him.

“Let me tell you: Never, ever count the people out,” Davis said after Ford clinched the Democratic nomination in March.

The 7th Congressional District stretches from the west suburbs of Oak Park, Maywood and Bellwood through the West Side and east to downtown and Navy Pier. It juts south along I-90 to encompass Rate Field and West Englewood.

Ford, 54, has represented parts of the West Side and western suburbs in the Illinois House since 2007. Before that, he taught social studies and started a real estate business.

At a get-out-the-vote event Ford hosted on the West Side earlier this month, he made few remarks. Instead, he handed the microphone to the youngest attendees — mostly college students or recent graduates — and asked them what needed to get done in Washington.

Better healthcare coverage, they said. Government transparency. Affordable college and housing.

Ford wrapped up the event by acknowledging their concerns and promoting other Democrats on the ticket rather than delivering a traditional stump speech. He said that break from the usual campaign-stop format reflects his constituent-driven approach to governing.

“People power is the best,” Ford said in a recent interview. “There’s no way you can be a representative if you’re doing the talking.”

Ford won the Democratic nomination with about 23.7% of the vote, or about 24,000 votes in total — beating a dozen competitors but earning only about 3,000 votes more than the runner-up, Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin. Anthony Driver Jr., an SEIU leader and former head of the city’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, came in third with about 11.6% of the vote.

In the primary, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee courted Ford for a possible endorsement but ultimately found policy differences with him, Ford said, including his declining to support unconditional military aid to Israel. AIPAC instead backed Conyears-Ervin, spending millions of dollars to boost her campaign. AIPAC’s campaign expenditures for Conyears-Ervin and other candidates produced mixed results in Illinois congressional races: AIPAC-backed Democratic candidates Melissa Bean and Donna Miller won in the 8th and 2nd districts, respectively, but Laura Fine and Conyears-Ervin lost in the 9th and 7th districts.

Ford also weathered attacks from the pro-cryptocurrency super PAC Fairshake, whose ads highlighted felony bank fraud charges he once faced that were later dropped after he agreed in 2014 to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor tax count. Ford called the ads slanderous. He was sentenced to six months’ probation at the time.

He also faced questions about $12,000 in contributions from Anosh Ahmed, a former executive at Loretto Hospital, a safety-net hospital on the West Side. Ahmed was indicted on fraud charges and arrested in Serbia in January. Ahmed has pleaded not guilty. Ford said Ahmed’s checks were made out to Ford’s 2019 mayoral campaign and were cashed before the hospital embezzlement scandal.

Ford, a former Loretto board member, has not been implicated in any wrongdoing tied to the hospital and said he called for Ahmed to be fired in 2021.

If elected, Ford has said a key priority would be repealing the tax cuts for the “ultrarich” enacted through Republicans’ massive tax-and-spend bill that Trump signed last year. His campaign materials say he would work to protect institutions such as the federal civil service and Justice Department, codify abortion rights and strengthen federal affordable housing programs. And he agrees with many other Democrats who would push to end the war in Iran.

In the primary, he also campaigned on securing money for financial aid, behavioral health and test-prep programs at colleges and universities.

In an interview, Ford said he supports abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and promoting Medicare for All, policies that many progressives have supported during this midterm election cycle.

“There’s no way we can have a healthy society and have a community that has strong businesses, strong communities, without healthcare that’s available for everyone,” Ford said of Medicare for All.

Ford said the push to abolish ICE has also helped build support for overhauling the agency. To him, that shows the value of a big-tent Democratic Party.

His campaign website says Illinois’ $15-an-hour minimum wage is “well below what families need to get by” in the 7th District. But in an interview, he declined to call for a specific federal minimum wage. Some Democrats have proposed $15 or $17 an hour nationwide, and U.S. Senate nominee Juliana Stratton has proposed $25.

“We probably should be looking at a livable wage and not so much at keeping people at a minimum,” Ford said. “When you throw out a number, that number becomes something that you’re stuck with.”

Although he said he uses artificial intelligence for research, Ford said he supports Illinois’ approach to regulating the industry and thinks a similar model should be explored nationally. Earlier this year, the state enacted a first-in-the-nation law requiring independent audits of large AI developers’ safety practices. Ford also said the federal government should form a commission to advise a new regulatory agency on guardrails for AI development.

He said he would support a federal moratorium on building energy-hungry data centers until new regulations are put in place.

“It’s critical that we slow things down,” Ford said.

Ford has applied to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and he’s looking to “swing big” for committee assignments that could bring resources to the district, such as Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Transportation and Infrastructure, or Financial Services.

With the primary behind him, Ford’s general election campaign has been low-key. Several pages on his website still advertise the March 17 primary. He planned to begin running digital ads this week and has no plans for television ads.

Ford raised about $94,000 from July through September and spent slightly more, according to federal campaign disclosure filings. He had about $102,000 on hand at the end of September.

Koppie, who calls himself a “hardcore conservative,” has recently run for Congress in two different districts. He has also run for governor and for the U.S. Senate multiple times. He lives near Elgin, in the 8th District, he said. Members of Congress are not required to live in the districts they represent.

Koppie says he is not a single-issue candidate, but his campaign is driven by advocacy against abortion, which he says is “the worst thing that ever happened in the United States.” He believes doctors who perform abortions and people who obtain them should be punished, and that abortion should be considered a “capital offense” — punishable by the death penalty.

“I’ll never get recognized on this side. But if there’s another side, maybe I’ll get recognized there,” he said in a recent phone interview.

Koppie reported raising exactly enough to cover his campaign’s expenses of less than $3,000 from July through September, most of it out of his own pocket. He ended September with $42. His campaign has also aired some television ads in the final stretch, costing at least $4,200, according to invoices filed with the Federal Communications Commission, including commercials Koppie’s campaign says share the candidate’s strong anti-abortion position. In the past, Koppie has received national media coverage for airing graphic anti-abortion ads.

Democrats nominated Shantel Franklin, who was a legislative liaison in Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, to succeed Ford in his state legislative seat, and she is running unopposed on the general election ballot.

Ford said he would not stay in Congress as long as Davis, who has held the seat since 1997. Ford declined to impose a specific term limit on himself but said it would “be a consideration” every year.

And one way he’ll differ from octogenarian Davis, he said, is by using social media and other technology to reach more constituents.

“We have the same progressive values,” Ford said, “but I think the delivery — it will be different.”