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Daniel Biss Declares Victory In Evanston Mayoral Race

EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS/AP) -- Former Illinois state Sen. Daniel Biss declared victory Tuesday night in the race for mayor in Evanston.

"Thank you, Evanston!" Biss said on Facebook. "I'm honored to be your next Mayor and I'm looking forward to getting to work on building a bold, progressive, and equitable government."

Thank you, Evanston! I'm honored to be your next Mayor and I'm looking forward to getting to work on building a bold, progressive, and equitable government.

Posted by Daniel Biss on Tuesday, February 23, 2021

With all precincts reporting, Biss captured a whopping 73 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan contest, compared with about 17 percent for activist Lori Keenan, and about 9 percent for Purdue University college student and 2018 Evanston Township High School graduate Sebastian Nalls.

Biss is a former University of Chicago mathematics professor. He grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, graduated from Harvard University, and earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Biss served one term in the Illinois House before he was elected to the Senate in 2012.

In 2018, Biss ran unsuccessfully in the Illinois Democratic gubernatorial primary – losing to JB Pritzker. Pritzker went on to be elected governor after defeating Republican Bruce Rauner.

On his campaign website for Evanston mayor, Biss noted that he began working as a community organizer while teaching in the early days of the Iraq War. He moved to Evanston with his wife, Karin – an assistant professor at National Louis University who was beginning a graduate program at Northwestern University at the time.

Their two children, Arya and Theodore, attend Evanston public schools, the campaign website said.

Biss' campaign website noted that in state government, he passed legislation leading to ban LGBTQ "conversion therapy," the creation of a first-of-its kind retirement security program, and police surveillance using drones.

Current Evanston Mayor Stephen Hagerty chose not to run for reelection.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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