Yoni Pizer has been named to fill the 12th District State House seat, which had a vacancy created when state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz retired from the Illinois House.
Feigenholtz has now been named state senator, while Pizer is also running for the 12th District seat that has its primary Tuesday, March 17. Interested candidates met and discussed their credentials with the Northside Democratic Committee in an open forum Feb. 9 at the Center on Halsted.
Pizer received the majority of support at the meeting with committee persons from the 2nd, 27th and 44th wards voting to select him as state representative for the remainder of Feigenholtz's term.
Ald. Tom Tunney ( 44th Ward )who has previously announced his endorsement of Pizer for the March 17 electionis the chair of the committee. The committee members' votes are weighted according to the number of voters in each ward's 2018 General Election. Tunney has 45.09 percent of the vote, with others being Sean Tenner ( 28.56 percent ), Lucy Moog ( 17.31 percent ), Tim Egan ( 7.73 percent ) and Walter Burnett ( 1.26 percent ).
"Yoni Pizer raised his family and owned a business in Lakeview for more than twenty-five years and he knows the progressive values that are important to the people in our community," said Tunney in a statement. "Today, the Committee heard Yoni make a compelling presentation about his longtime advocacy to protect and advance women's and LGBTQ rights, and many other progressive policies. At a time when women's rights are under attack by the Trump Administration and hate crimes against the LGBTQ community and religious minorities are on the rise, Yoni has a strong, credible voice that will speak out and advocate for our diverse community's values."
As required by law, the Committee convened to fill the vacancy within 30 days of Jan. 21 to ensure people within the district are represented in the Illinois General Assembly.