Suburban Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi balances Illinois’ more progressive politics as he looks to future

Stepping to the microphone in an Elk Grove Village conference hall recently, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi — a burgeoning voice in Illinois’ congressional delegation — made an impassioned argument for fighting back against the extremism he sees in the Republicans running Congress.

While elected as a moderate, the four-term Democratic congressman from the northwest suburbs was headlining an event filled with progressive Democrats and party activists helping get signatures on nominating petitions to launch campaigns for upcoming elections.

But Krishnamoorthi quickly sought to bridge any perceived internal political party divide.

“We are united as Team Normal. There’s something called Team Normal, and we happen to be on Team Normal,” he told the crowd before turning his attention to the GOP. “But there’s also something called Team Extreme. And Team Extreme is on the rise.”

His appearance was just one of many he’s made at events across his district since being reelected in November. But it comes at a unique time in the state’s political evolution and, in particular, Krishnamoorthi’s career.

Krishnamoorthi, 50, of Schaumburg, took office in 2017 as a common-sense Democrat who was friendly with business. He has largely followed that track in the House while amassing the largest campaign piggy bank of any member of Congress in Illinois and, along the way, has generated chatter he might look to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.

But his advancement also comes as the political winds in Illinois have increasingly pushed the Democratic Party leftward, raising questions about whether he can balance that with his record and rhetoric and whether progressives — some of whom have run against Krishnamoorthi in primaries or criticized him for how he’s built-up his campaign war chest — will follow.

Krishnamoorthi said there’s nothing difficult or contradictory for him about working within the Democratic Party’s new reality.

“I think a lot of (progressives) are in the same place I am,” Krishnamoorthi said before rattling off a string of GOP-lead initiatives in Congress he said Democrats of all stripes would oppose.

“What do I mean by that? I think that, for instance, when the GOP added these riders to the National Defense Authorization Act and then the (Veterans Affairs) appropriation bill basically defunding programs to assist our service members who require travel for their reproductive health care, or banning Pride flags from the military, or banning Pride flags from being displayed anywhere at military installations, or banning books that might have something to do with teaching tolerance of LGBTQ people, I think those types of positions are so extreme that these Democrats will fight like hell against those types of restrictions, and so will I,” he said.

Krishnamoorthi also touts his progressive bona fides by noting he’s one of 24 vice chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus. The House caucus works to promote equality for all people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison of Schaumburg, one of the more progressive voices on the county board, applauded the congressman’s involvement in the recent Democratic rally and described Krishnamoorthi as an “ally.”

“I gotta give him a lot of accolades for being a leader and a member of the Equality Caucus,” Morrison said. “As an ally, I was really happy to see him take on that role. I’m the first openly LGBT person ever elected to the Cook County Board, and I’m proud to have an ally of the community representing my congressional district.”

Still, the Democratic political shift is expansive and even being seen in the west and northwest suburbs, historically conservative bulwarks. Just last year, unabashed progressive Delia Ramirez enjoyed a strong showing in DuPage County as she won her first term in Congress.

Krishnamoorthi knows he faces pressure from progressives.

In 2022, he drew a young progressive activist as a Democratic primary opponent. Junaid Ahmed had backed Krishnamoorthi’s first successful U.S. House campaign in 2016 after finding inspiration in the insurgent progressive movement of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

But Krishnamoorthi fell short of living up to his campaign ideals, Ahmed said.

“I ran because (Krishnamoorthi) wasn’t doing the things he talked about championing when he was a candidate,” he said.

During the 2022 race, Ahmed hammered Krishnamoorthi for taking millions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies and corporate political action committees, charging that the incumbent had “lost his way.”

In discussing Ahmed’s primary challenge, the congressman used much of the same language he used at the Elk Grove Village event to sound the warning about congressional Republicans.

“I like to say I was on Team Normal, and Team Extreme was unhappy,” Krishnamoorthi said. “And (Ahmed) in part based his line of attack on me being too pro-free enterprise. And I said, ‘I plead guilty to the charges. Bring it on.’ I believe this country will only succeed if its small businesses succeed. And so, he’s — in any case, that particular approach did not play well in this district.”

Krishnamoorthi won the primary easily, receiving about 70% of the vote against Ahmed.

But Sheila Rawat, who cofounded the group Schaumburg Area Progressives and supported Ahmed’s candidacy, said it’s galling to hear Krishnamoorthi describe energized progressives within the congressional district the same way he describes extremist Republicans.

“One (movement) is for the people. One is not,” Rawat said. “And he’s also part of the people who are not for the people. And it’s also extreme to pit people of your own party against each other. We’re running as Democrats, but he’s calling us extreme.”

After beating Ahmed, Krishnamoorthi dispatched Republican Chris Dargis 56%-44% in the November general election to earn his fourth term representing the district, which now includes a sliver of Chicago on the Far Northwest Side near O’Hare International Airport and then twists from Rosemont through parts of Des Plaines and Mount Prospect before taking in Schaumburg and portions of Carol Stream and South Elgin and stretching as far northwest as Starks.

He was already a veteran of Illinois politics when he won the seat for the first time.

After volunteering on Barack Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign, working for state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and running unsuccessfully at age 36 for state comptroller, Krishnamoorthi lost to Tammy Duckworth in the 8th Congressional District 2012 Democratic primary.

Duckworth served for four years but gave up the seat to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk. Krishnamoorthi then beat two rivals in the 2016 primary and has held the seat since.

In Congress, Krishnamoorthi points to his work to reauthorize funding for federal vocational and technical education programming. Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined the congressman at a City Colleges event in 2018 to applaud his success in co-authoring a bill they said would help Chicago students get training for 21st century jobs.

He also said he’s proud of an investigation he helped lead into youth vaping that forced Juul to reach a $439 million settlement with dozens of states for targeting young people with its advertising and prompted stronger federal regulation of the products.

While Krishnamoorthi has worked the levers of Congress, he’s also ratcheted up his campaign fundraising machine.

He now has $13.5 million in his congressional campaign committee, according to the Federal Election Commission. That’s a massive amount for an Illinois House member, even one in a potentially purplish district who’s constantly gearing up for a costly general election fight or trying to scare away primary opponents.

The next-closest Illinois representative in terms of campaign fundraising is Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of the Peoria area who had about $4.6 million in his coffers at the end of June, according to the FEC. The top Democrats after Krishnamoorthi were veteran U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, who had about $1.5 million on hand and Mike Quigley, who had about $1.2 million.

Krishnamoorthi’s election fund even dwarfs those of Illinois’ Democratic senators, with Duckworth at around $1.7 million and Richard Durbin at $1.5 million, according to the FEC.

Durbin is now 78 years old, and has not said whether he will run again in 2026. If there’s a Senate vacancy, Krishnamoorthi and his enormous stockpile are well-positioned to jump in.

“First of all, I hope Sen. Durbin continues. I haven’t heard any indication he’s not,” Krishnamoorthi said when asked about a run for Senate.

“There’s no vacancies. I’m not looking at it right now,” he said, adding “I’m not ruling anything in or out.”

If he did run for Senate, Krishnamoorthi wouldn’t just draw heat from progressives. He would also likely face more scrutiny for his ties to supporters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose movement promoting Hindu nationalism in India has drawn widespread international criticism thanks to ongoing violent attacks against Muslims in that country.

Raju Rajagopal, co-founder of the nonprofit group Hindus for Human Rights, said he has spoken repeatedly to Krishnamoorthi about the congressman’s outsized influence on U.S. policy toward India as one of a handful of Indian American members of Congress.

“Other members of Congress are taking their cues from him on how to proceed, and he says he needs the campaign funding structure he has established among backers of Modi,” Rajagopal said. “If he’s not willing to speak out against these human rights abuses against Muslims, it makes it much more difficult to build any kind of consensus to hold Modi and his followers accountable.”

Krishnamoorthi said he has raised his concerns with the Indian government.

“And they point the finger right back at me and say, ‘What are you doing to tackle discrimination that’s practiced in the United States toward the very people that you’re concerned about, and also, even Hindus and minorities of all kinds?’” he said.

“And they also point to the fragility of democracy here, and Jan. 6. And so, I believe secular democracies are under tremendous pressure in many different corners. But I absolutely am concerned about any erosion in India or here as well.”

Back in Elk Grove Village, Krishnamoorthi homed in on the actions of Republicans as part of that erosion, framing them as a direct attack on democratic norms in an address that was red meat for the room full of Democratic activists.

“They are trying to control your bodies. They’re trying to control your speech. They’re trying to control who you are,” he said. “They’re trying to control your health care. They’re trying to control who you want to be. The antidote to control is liberty. We are going to pursue an agenda of liberty in this country!”

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com