📣 Join Team Mike this Saturday! 📣 Start your Valentine's Day with us as we knock doors in Edgewater, starting at 11am at Loaves and Witches. Let's talk to voters about sending a champion for housing, for immigrants, for transit, and for our communities to Congress! Sign up now: bit.ly/vol4simmons

Groups like AIPAC don’t spend millions to support candidates without expecting a return on their investment. They do it to buy a seat in Congress. That’s why I refuse to accept any money from corporate PACs or AIPAC.

Sharing another moment from my speech honoring Black History Month at the International Servant Leaders Museum in Morton Grove. I’m running for Congress because we need a strong moral voice in Congress, someone who will fight for every resident of Illinois’ 9th district.

Join me in standing with @sbworkersunited.org and their basic demands for management:
 • Better hours. • Higher take-home pay. • No more union-busting. NO CONTRACT! NO COFFEE!

My favorite part of campaigning is knocking on doors and taking to the people! Thank you to Ald. Maria Hadden for launching with us today and for canvassing in Rogers Park with me and our scrappy volunteers!☀️❄️🗳️

📣 HEY ROGERS PARK 📣 Kick it with us THIS Saturday to talk to voters with us across the 49th Ward with Alderwoman Maria Hadden as we knock, call, and write postcards to our neighbors! Sign up at bit.ly/49forMike ⬇️

The Tribune Editorial Board says I’m “well to the left” of their preferences for the 9th District- but they’ve overlooked my communities and excluded our voices for years. They didn’t even invite me to meet with them!

We are blessed with public access to Lake Michigan — forever open, clear, and free in the 9th District! I grew up with a strong appreciation for the lake and have fought for clean fresh water in the Illinois Senate. I can’t wait to step up that fight in Congress! Read more ⬇️

It was a huge honor to reflect on Black History Month today with the Morton Grove community at the International Servant Leaders Museum I drew upon a Great Migration story about my late great-uncle James Daniels to underscore the beauty of Black history.

BIRD ALERT! You might not know this about me: I’m an avid birder! Since I was a kid I’ve been coming to the shores of Lake Michigan, seeing some of my favorite birds each season and recharging in our beautiful wild spaces here in Illinois’ 9th District, including the Montrose Bird Sanctuary!🐦‍⬛🪺

At 16, I worked my first job at a call center in downtown Evanston. Coincidentally, the building also housed first-term Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's district office. I'm running to be the next fighter for this district. My roots run deep, and I'm ready to represent my home.

The campaign trail has me all over the 9th District. One major upside is I get to learn about new food spots like the Sub Shop in Algonquin, a local favorite. I’ll definitely be stopping in when warmer weather returns and I’m back on my biking trips through McHenry County!

This campaign is gaining steam all across the district because voters know we NEED authentic representation in Congress right now — I’m honored to have the support of so many Evanstonians including Alderman Matt Rodgers!

UPDATE: ICE has shot and killed a person in Minneapolis this morning. We need to ABOLISH ICE NOW. I am outraged.

PART 1: When I was growing up on the North Side of Chicago, there was nothing like Heated Rivalry. Now that I’m running for Congress, it was the perfect show for my partner and I to watch to take some time off the campaign trail. Next clip coming soon!

TODAY is my birthday!!! Glad the sun is shining today as I begin another orbit. This little boy is running for Congress. Please go to mikesimmons.org right now and make a contribution for my birthday to help this little boy (I swear I’m the same person I was when I was 9 years old) win this primary

Celebrate Black History Month with us at the International Servant Leaders Museum as we honor the legacies of Langston Hughes, Rosa Parks, Nina Simone ... 📅 Feb 1, 2026 | 11:30–1:30 (remarks at noon) 🎤 Remarks by IL State Senator Mike Simmons All are welcome. #RemembertheCandles #BlackHistoryMonth

NEW - Evanston Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th Ward) is endorsing state Sen. Mike Simmons in #IL09 Rodgers represents the southern most end of Evanston that borders Rogers Park ETHS school board member Leah Piekarz is also backing Simmons

Check out my full conversation with @mattheweadie.bsky.social for @evanstonnow.bsky.social! After 365 days of Trump 2.0, it's painfully clear we need more working-class and progressive voices in Congress. Listen below to hear how this campaign is powered by the people and is meeting the moment!

What a joy to speak with Buffalo Grove Pride today about Dr. King’s organizing for dignified housing, economic justice, and paving my path to be Illinois’s first LGBTQ+ state senator after surviving homophobic bullying. King’s vision animates me: I’m proud to embody what his dream was all about.

Excited to throw down with @48thneighbors.bsky.social on Saturday, January 31st in Edgewater and excited to have their support in our run for Congress in IL-09! Let’s champion working class people!

So much love for Uptown. Always enjoying door knocking here and connecting with voters about my lifelong connection to the neighborhood and what a huge honor it’d be to REPRESENT Uptown in Congress!

The right-wing has targeted teachers and unions for decades, and this attack on @ctulocal1.bsky.social is a blatant attempt to intimidate the labor movement. I stand in STRONG solidarity with all of our Chicago educators and communities that are being targeted by Trump’s mob rule.

TODAY I stood on the picket line with @afacwa.org United flight attendants: these workers have been trying to get a fair contract for over 5 years, while the executives upstairs make millions. We need voices in Congress who will call out corporate greed and put working people first!

BILL ALERT! 🚨🚨 this week I’m bringing forward bills to: ✅ create a $50M restoration grant for small biz hit by Operation Midway Blitz ✅ hold data centers accountable to pay for their energy + water use demand ✅ require IL Dept of Transportation to create a statewide bus grid + more to come! 📋📝

I refuse to let the forever-war lobby try to buy this seat: I’m proud to reject their money. AIPAC’s unchecked spending is a threat to our democracy and not in line with my community’s values. I will not take a penny from anyone who wants to defund housing and healthcare just to drop more bombs.

From Minneapolis to Venezuela, the Trump admin needs to be reined in by an active Congress—not one that relies on strongly-worded letters and performative politics to stop these fascists. I will bring the FIGHT! I stood in strong solidarity with 100s of outraged Chicagoans protesting last weekend:

2 MONTHS LEFT: Come out and knock with us this weekend to tell voters about this historic election coming up soon! Together we’ll build a movement that defunds ICE thugs and puts our money back into our communities, so tell your friends and sign up today! bit.ly/vol4simmons

✅ Champion a foreign policy rooted in justice, human rights, and true accountability. Support @mikesimmonsil.bsky.social here: secure.actblue.com/donate/mike-...

መልካም ገና – Merry Christmas! Ethiopian Christmas is a tradition celebrated on January 7th on my father’s side of my family for thousands of years. Last week, we took a break from campaigning to observe this tradition by enjoying some excellent food from Ethiopian Diamond.

Impeach them all. From my remarks yesterday in downtown Chicago, standing in solidarity and protest with hundreds fed up with domestic state violence and international lawlessness.

Proud to stand in strong solidarity in Edgewater today in resisting fascism. We need each other now and the pain is real. Together we will impeach and convict Donald Trump, abolish ICE, and restore peace.

Instead of occupying Venezuela and terrorizing Americans with ICE and CBP, we need to be investing in housing, education, and healthcare. IL-09 needs someone ready to fight for these priorities, not endless war, in Congress. Join me tomorrow, 1/10, in solidarity to protest this state-led violence.

It was great to sit down with Matthew and discuss the things that matter most to voters across IL-09, from Uptown to McHenry County. Looking forward to sharing the full conversation next week!

We cannot live like this - where federal agents can shoot people in the streets and then lie about the circumstances. This type of violence is a hallmark of fascist regimes. This is what my dad fled when he landed in Edgewater as an Ethiopian refugee decades ago, and this is what we’re seeing now.

We cannot live like this - where federal agents can shoot people in the streets and then lie about the circumstances. This type of violence is a hallmark of fascist regimes. This is what my dad fled when he landed in Edgewater as an Ethiopian refugee decades ago, and this is what we’re seeing now.

Yesterday an ICE agent tragically murdered Renee Nicole Good. At last night’s vigil I processed this trauma with rapid responders who stepped up for their neighbors like Renee. We know the violence ICE brings to our neighborhoods. In this moment I’m thankful to see us standing strong and together.

NOTE: If weather doesn’t cooperate, we’ll join phonebankers at the campaign office instead! Join me at 6:15 at the Morse Ave campaign office in Rogers Park tonight! Weather-permitting, we’ll knock doors and talk to our neighbors about the issues that matter most. See details and sign up below! ⬇️

Having seen bystander footage, it is clear to me the ICE agent involved in the Minneapolis shooting needs to be charged with murder. ICE is a thinly-veiled jobs program for thugs. It must be abolished. ICE has no place in Minneapolis, in Chicago, or anywhere else.

January 6th rocked me to my core. I remember sitting stunned, watching ruffians storm into the US Senate chamber, where I worked as a young 20-something staffer, while Donald Trump lied through his teeth to incite an insurrection. January 6th is yet another reminder that we need to impeach this man.

Join me this evening for a canvass in Uptown! We’ll meet at Nabala Cafe at 6:15pm, and talk to our neighbors about championing Housing for All in Congress. Sign up at the Mobilize link below, and see you there!

It’s the 6th anniversary of my mom’s passing and I’m reflecting on her and our loving relationship today. However I wanted to reflect further on Trump’s invasion of Venezuela and the ineptitude of many Democrats who are not meeting the moment with statements better suited for 20 years ago.

I’m outraged at Trump’s takeover of Venezuela and am calling for his impeachment along with Secretaries Hegseth and Rubio. See my full statement.

It’s been a year. This time last year, my partner Michael and I were at the White House East Wing. We wanted to visit before Trump’s presence disgraced the grounds again. Little did we know that in less than a year, he’d tear it all down. Final photo courtesy: Flickr user Joe Flood.

CAMPAIGN ENERGY: I played poker for the first time earlier this fall! Even though I lost my first game, I enjoyed hanging out with folks from different LGBTQIA+ communities who regularly get together to play poker and just get to know them.

This holiday season, I’m thinking of Mickii’s Desserts in Rogers Park and how sweet it is to support our small businesses across the 9th District. Mickii and her family’s recipes—four generations old—have called this district home for over a decade—I’m so lucky to have her support, and her desserts!

I symbolize everything Donald Trump is trying to erase. Asked about serving in Congress during the last two years of this admin at a @chicagodsa.bsky.social forum, I said I’d bring my agency and lived experiences to the fight. We have no other choice, and I’m the person to deliver that message. 🌹

Chicago, we go way back. Proud to be a fourth generation north-side Chicagoan on my mom’s side. Talking about the 400 block of North State, one of my favorite blocks in the city.

As a lifelong public transportation user and transit nerd, it’s been a week for the books: Gov. Pritzker signed a $1.5 billion transit bill, and I caught one of my favorite Chicago traditions: the CTA holiday train! So proud to have the support of 14,000+ transit workers in Chicagoland (and Santa!)

I have had the privilege of working alongside the 48th Ward Neighbors for Justice over my tenure in the state senate to advance policies to lift up the multiracial working class of Edgewater, Andersonville, and Uptown.