Janice Schakowsky

It's something that has never happened before in your lifetime. Illinois is projected to have six new members of Congress, including five members of the U.S. House and one new U.S. senator.

All six of those new members are Democrats, NBC News is projecting.

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Two members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi, effectively vacated their Congressional seats when they launched their runs for Senate. Reps. Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and Jesús "Chuy" García all announced they would retire from the House, as did Sen. Dick Durbin.

Here is a rundown of the newest members of Congress.

On Tuesday night, Stratton was declared the winner in the race for Durbin's Senate race, defeating Republican Don Tracy.

Stratton is a former member of the Illinois House and has served as Gov. JB Pritzker's lieutenant governor since 2018. She vowed that if she were to win the race, she would fight for a $25 federal minimum wage and secure "Medicare for All."

Democratic Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller defeated Republican Michael Noack in the race for the 2nd Congressional District, the seat currently held by Kelly. Miller served as board chair for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, vice president of Illinois Democratic Women, and president of Democratic Women of the South Suburbs.

She named several priorities in her campaign, including Healthcare for All, codifying Roe v. Wade, regulating artificial intelligence at the federal level, delivering medical debt relief, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and fighting for "fair trade policies."

Patty Garcia, who has been serving as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, has been elected to take over his seat, defeating three other challengers: Lupe Castillo, Ed Hershey and Chris Getty.

Her website listed her top priorities as: raising the federal minimum wage; passing federal labor legislation called the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act; expanding the Child Tax Credit; reducing the cost of medicines and prescriptions; building more affordable homes; protecting Social Security and Medicare; and punishing big businesses that raise prices on essential goods.

State Rep. La Shawn Ford is becoming a U.S. representative, taking over the seat currently held by Davis in the 7th Congressional District. Ford defeated Chad Koppie. Ford was first elected to the Illinois House in 2007, and before that, he was a social studies teacher and basketball coach in the Chicago Public Schools. He has highlighted legislation he worked on in Springfield related to jobs, health care, social justice and education.

In the campaign, he vowed to protect coverage of the Affordable Care Act and stop premium hikes, strengthen Medicare, raise the federal wage standard, end subminimum wages for tipped workers and workers with disabilities, codify reproductive rights, close racial gaps in maternal health care, expand paid family and medical leave, lower childcare costs through sustained federal investment, raise educator pay nationwide, and build affordable and mixed-income housing.

Melissa Bean is headed back to Congress, after defeating Republican Jennifer Davis for the seat currently held By Krishnamoorthi. Bean served three terms in the U.S. House from 2005 to 2011, where she takes credit for helping pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Wall Street Reforms and the Affordable Care Act.

Her priorities in the campaign included federally mandating body cameras for ICE agents, allowing local police to order federal immigration agents to cease operations or arrest them when they act outside their legal authority, extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, restoring the U.S. Department of Education, establishing federal rules governing artificial intelligence and codifying Roe v. Wade.

Daniel Biss has vacated his job as the mayor of Evanston and is headed to Congress, after defeating John Elleson. Biss will represent the 9th Congressional District, after Schakowsky decided to retire. B

iss was elected mayor of Evanston in 2021, after previously serving as a state lawmaker in the Illinois House and Senate. He considers his accomplishments in the statehouse to be passing protections for LGBTQ+ youth, enacting abortion rights legislation, providing retirement savings options to people who otherwise wouldn't have access and strengthening technology privacy requirements.

His campaign website has numerous priorities, including raising the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour, passing the PRO Act, capping credit card interest rates, abolishing the Electoral College, imposing 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices and strengthening Medicare.