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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/03/17/the-rundown-a-pivotal-primary-election-in-illinois",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-17T20:45:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.wbez.org",
  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon! It’s the busiest Tuesday in a while, thanks to Election Day, St. Patrick’s Day, lineup announcements and more. Here’s what you need to know today.</i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/03/17/chicago-election-day-primary-midterms-senate-congress-governor-county-board-president-assessor-comptroller\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. Voters in today’s primary election will shape Illinois politics for years</u></b></a></p><p>Illinois’ representation in Washington, D.C., will look vastly different this time next year — and for many years to come, my colleague Mitchell Armentrout reports.</p><p>The state’s most pivotal primary election in a generation comes to a head after a lengthy, intense campaign season pitting some of Illinois’ most powerful politicians against each other.</p><p>A third of the state’s congressional delegation — five U.S. House seats plus the one in the Senate soon to be vacated by Dick Durbin — are guaranteed to have new faces after November’s general election, while most of the electoral suspense in gerrymandered Illinois is all but guaranteed to be settled at this primary stage.</p><p>The generational turnover has led to an unprecedented influx of outside money trying to shape the voices sent to the U.S. Capitol. More than $50 million from super PACs and other special interest groups has flowed into races — rivaling fundraising figures of the candidates themselves in some cases — and helped flood the airwaves and internet with a barrage of political ads. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/03/17/chicago-election-day-primary-midterms-senate-congress-governor-county-board-president-assessor-comptroller\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p>After the polls close at 7 p.m., WBEZ 91.5 FM will be live on air with election coverage, which also will stream on wbez.org and YouTube. My colleagues will be stationed at election night headquarters throughout the city and in Springfield; you can follow their updates in our <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/live/election-day-illinois-primaries-2026-results-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>live blog</u></a>. Results for every race in the Chicago area will be updated at suntimes.com.</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/03/16/chicago-bovino-trump-pritzker-ice-border-patrol-midway-blitz\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. Gov. Pritzker taunted Bovino amid reports of the Border Patrol commander’s retirement</u></b></a></p><p>Gov. JB Pritzker celebrated the reported retirement of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who led President Donald Trump’s aggressive — and at times deadly — deportation campaigns in Chicago and other cities.</p><p>“Greg Bovino won’t just get to walk away — he will be held accountable and responsible for the damage he’s done to our nation,” Pritzker said yesterday on social media platform X. “We won’t forget, and neither should you. No one is above the law.”</p><p>Bovino reportedly told the conservative outlet Breitbart he plans to retire at the end of the month, and other outlets have since reported the news. The Chicago Sun-Times hasn’t independently verified those reports. A DHS spokesperson said, “Chief Bovino has not submitted any retirement paperwork.”</p><p>Bovino became the face of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement efforts, using social media to tout arrests and take on critics, including Pritzker. Agents under his command in Chicago made allegedly race-based stops, used risky tactics and pummeling force and often deployed chemical irritants against protesters. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/03/16/chicago-bovino-trump-pritzker-ice-border-patrol-midway-blitz\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/real-estate/2026/03/16/legion-park-chicago-tent-encampment-homeless-unhoused-fire\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. After fires, officials are getting ready to remove another homeless encampment on Chicago’s Northwest Side</u></b></a></p><p>The city has promised to offer long-term housing, but some advocates have voiced doubts about the plan to move roughly 20 residents from the Legion Park tent city, my colleague Chip Mitchell reports for WBEZ.</p><p>The city has been struggling to clear away tent encampments from parks in this part of the Northwest Side for years. Last year, an encampment removal in Gompers Park, about two miles southwest of Legion, led to a new encampment across the street. Attention to Legion Park has come partly because of multiple fires.</p><p>Northwest Side group Parks for All launched a petition against the encampment removal and helped develop a proposal to keep tents 50 feet from property lines of businesses and residences, require the tent dwellers to attend a fire safety talk and receive fire extinguishers, designate a “communal cooking” area for safety and take other steps. The proposal’s signers included the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, the Metropolitan Tenants Organization and the Illinois Union of the Homeless.</p><p>The advocacy drew officials, including Chicago Park District Superintendent Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and the city’s Chief Homelessness Officer Sendy Soto, to a meeting with encampment residents on Saturday. But the officials refused to cancel today’s removal. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/real-estate/2026/03/16/legion-park-chicago-tent-encampment-homeless-unhoused-fire\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts-culture/2026/03/17/padma-lakshmi-veronica-roth-xochitl-gonzalez-michael-pollan-2026-chicago-humanities-fest\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. Padma Lakshmi, Veronica Roth, Xochitl Gonzalez and Michael Pollan will appear at this year’s Chicago Humanities Fest</u></b></a></p><p>Tickets go on sale Thursday for a variety of spring programs, from discussions about the U.S. Constitution with NPR’s Peter Sagal to appearances by authors Rick Steves, R.F. Kuang and Matt Haig.</p><p>The festival, running from March 24 to June 28, offers events throughout the city and features a wide array of conversations from notable artists, musicians, politicians, authors and television hosts. The lineup this spring also travels to the Bridgeport and Lake View neighborhoods and Evanston.</p><p>Several notable Chicagoans are also participating in programming, including chef Curtis Duffy and musician Charles Joseph Smith, as well as historian Sherman “Dilla” Thomas and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.</p><p>You can see the full calendar of events in the link. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts-culture/2026/03/17/padma-lakshmi-veronica-roth-xochitl-gonzalez-michael-pollan-2026-chicago-humanities-fest\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/music/2026/03/17/lollapalooza-2026-chicago-grant-park-charli-xcx-lorde-olivia-dean-tate-mcrae\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. Charli XCX, Lorde, Olivia Dean, Tate McRae and The Smashing Pumpkins are set to headline Lollapalooza 2026</u></b></a></p><p>I’ve been anxiously awaiting to see if John Summit will be playing, and I was not disappointed this morning. (If you regularly click on the music I link to in my intros, you’ve heard at least one of his songs.) And as a fan of house, techno, pop and The xx, I’m very happy with the lineup.</p><p>Another notable local the fest booked is musician Case Oats, my colleague Morgan Ciocca writes. The Chicago Made Showcase will also return, where the DCASE contest runners-up Corr Kendricks and Free Joel Band are expected to take the stage.</p><p>Other acts include New York rockers Geese, R&B artist Leon Thomas, rapper Freddie Gibbs, singer-songwriter Sombr, pop vocalist Zara Larsson, British indie rockers Wet Leg and K-pop band Aespa. 54 Ultra, JADE, Empire of the Sun, Yungblud and María Zardoya’s solo project, Not for Radio, are also on the lineup.</p><p>The four-day event runs July 30 to Aug. 2 in Grant Park. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/music/2026/03/17/lollapalooza-2026-chicago-grant-park-charli-xcx-lorde-olivia-dean-tate-mcrae\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Vocalo</u></a>]</p><p><b>Here’s what else is happening</b></p><ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\" id=\"rte-c3c6b333-223b-11f1-bb24-0b9340fd125d\"><li>Israel said it has killed Iran’s top security official. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/17/world/iran-war-trump-oil-lebanon?unlocked_article_code=1.T1A.0KBZ.jrt1KJ-E1VlJ&smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>New York Times</u></a>]</li><li>A federal judge extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s cuts to Illinois public health funding. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/03/16/federal-judge-block-illinois-public-health-funding-cuts\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li><li>Madeleine Grynsztejn will leave the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago at the end of the year after leading the institution since 2008. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/03/17/madeleine-grynsztejn-steps-down-from-museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li><li>Here’s how the city’s tradition of dyeing the Chicago River green began. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/03/16/1086988193/st-patricks-day-green-chicago-river\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>Chicago choir Consonance will stage the local premiere of multimedia symphony “Here I Am,” composed by Jocelyn Hagen. The work features the words of 47 women throughout history and was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.</p><p>As arts contributor Graham Meyer reports, audiences will also be able to view projections of portraits of the quoted women.</p><p>The subject matter goes beyond women voting. “I wanted it to be bigger than the suffrage movement,” Hagen said. “Allowing us to vote is a validation of women’s voices, and I wanted to continue that journey by validating the voices of women from around the world and from across time.”</p><p>Performances will take place March 20 and 22 at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/music/2026/03/17/women-choir-history-consonance-chicago-choral-events-forest-park\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><b>Tell me something good …</b></p><p>What’s something you would tell your younger self?</p><p>Melanie writes:</p><p>“My younger self follow my gut instincts. But not if I’ve been drinking!”</p><p>Jonathan writes:</p><p>“Message to younger self (from someone who just turned 71 and still running and hiking)…take care of your health since it’s hard to undo the effects of neglect if you wait too long.”</p><p>And Neal writes:</p><p>“My younger self desperately needs to know, it’ll all work out the way it should! Don’t panic that it’s not happening when you want it to happen, be assured it’ll happen.”</p><p>Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.</p>",
  "title": "A pivotal primary election in Illinois: The Rundown",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-17T21:08:46.763Z"
}