Former Illinois state Sen. Daniel Biss, a Democrat, announced that he plans to run for mayor of Evanston next year.
A statement read, in part, "The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was a relief of immeasurable proportions, but the truth is that many of the solutions to our problems must be devised and implemented at the municipal level of government. I'm running for mayor because a progressive community like Evanston should be at the forefront, leading the nation into a more equitable era.
"As an Evanston resident, public school parent, and former legislator, I know this is a community with extraordinary compassion as well as remarkable creativity, full of talented people trying to make a difference in all walks of life. These qualities are on display when we come together to rally around school funding, or when we enact pathbreaking policies like our reparations program.
"At the same time, some challenges have persisted here for decades, especially regarding racial injusticein housing, public safety, education, and more. In other words, our city has the capacity to find solutions that make us the envy of the nation, and yet we've too often shrunk away from grappling with the most difficult problems."
Biss grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, and moved to Illinois after receiving his bachelor's degree at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He was an Illinois state representative as well, serving in that role 2011-13. He was state senator 2013-19. Biss unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018.