Updates

Since we posted our web page with candidate evaluations on Jan. 27, 2026, a few new developments have led to additional notes and an amendment to our Toolkit on AIPAC (since AIPAC has now jumped into the race in support of Melissa Conyears-Ervin (and NOT the Jewish candidate Jason Friedman who has been subject to an ugly antisemitism-laced attack).

Reed Showalter’s anti-Zionist speech at Oak Park Temple turned into a campaign ad that he posted on his Facebook page which linked to the antisemitic trope laden Intercept article that attacked Jason Friedman, falsely, as backed by the “Israel lobby” group AIPAC (and also contrasted Showalter’s stance on Israel with those of several of his opponents in the race who support the two-state solution). Michael Zmora and Phyllis Rubin (who are members of JC&F4Democracy but did not participate in the interview of Reed Showalter we conducted) wrote this op ed in the Wednesday Journal pointing to Showalter’s own self-contradictory record on this issue, given he told the Jewish Federation he supported a two state solution himself. See our amended comments on Reed Showalter as a candidate.

Several candidates are doubling down on their anti-AIPAC stance, including Reed Showalter, Anabel Mendoza and Kina Collins. While Showalter claims not to take any PAC money, he receives PAC money from other sources. See Toolkit (AIPAC).

The Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation released a report containing written statements by 8 of the candidates we evaluated on issues including antisemitism and Israel (they are Richard Boykin, Kina Collins, Melissa Conyers-Ervin, Jason Friedman, LaShawn Ford, Rory Hoskins, Reed Showalter), as well as other issues that JC&F4Democracy did not evaluate or report on. The JUF report does not contain statements by Anthony Driver or Anabel Mendoza but does include statements by two candidates we did not evaluate in our report (Chad Koppie and Jazmin Robinson). See Methodology.

After we published our evaluations, disinformation about us has also come to our attention since we posted our web page. We are an all-volunteer group of voters from Oak Park and River Forest who have come together to address concerns about rising antisemitism right in our own district. We have received NO donations from any other group. We are not members of AIPAC and received no support from any organization in preparing our evaluations. We call upon all people of goodwill to read our evaluations and our Toolkit and use the contact form if you wish to discuss its content with members of our group.

We stand by our January 27, 2026, issued evaluations, given that the new developments have not fundamentally altered but in some cases have strengthened the bases for statements we make about each candidate and our overall assessment.