Back in May, Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) announced she would not be running for reelection after serving in Congress for 27 years, starting in 1999.
News of the 81-year-old House Democrat Senior Chief Deputy Whip’s impending departure caused a flood of hopefuls to declare their candidacies, with 15 Democrats throwing their hats into the ring in hopes of winning a district which, like most others in heavily gerrymandered Illinois, is reliably blue. Four Republicans are also running.
Among the Democrat contenders, three that are considered to have the best chances of advancing as the nominee in the primary, which is currently underway as of this writing, are Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, State Sen. Laura Fine, and unhinged former Media Matters “journalist” Kat Abughazaleh, who has been endorsed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05).
In addition to being anti-ICE, some of Biss’ top priorities, according to his campaign website, are “combating income inequality,” taking “bold action” against the “climate crisis,” having a “foreign policy rooted in… global justice,” and implementing a “welcoming immigration policy.”
But at the 11th hour, one woman has sought to torpedo Biss’ chances by writing about an alleged “inappropriate” relationship she said she had with Biss in 2004 when he was a University of Chicago professor, and she was a student:
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss’ campaign admitted Tuesday that a 2004 relationship Biss had with a former undergraduate student of his at the University of Chicago was “ill-advised” after she posted about her experience to social media on Monday.
Megan Wachspress posted on both her Bluesky and Substack accounts that after she took an undergraduate topology course taught by Biss, he emailed her to “ask if I wanted to meet up, socially,” leading to a brief, consensual relationship between the two.
“After a few very intense evenings, he had second thoughts. It was wrong to date a student, of course, so we would have to stop making out,” Waschpress wrote. “Of course we could still hang out, and so we continued to spend time together in what to any external observer would look like dates, until gradually that stopped, too.”
For those who don’t care to read what Ms. Wachspress wrote on BlueCry and Substack, here’s the condensed version:
Wachspress, who is now a Stanford Law School lecturer, said they had a brief, consensual, non-sexual relationship when Biss was 26, and she was 20 years old, that primarily involved “making out.” And it happened when she was no longer a student of his. She claims he felt guilt about dating a (former) student of his at the time and ended the relationship, and some years later, she alleges that he sent her a note apologizing for it.
In other words, next to nothing happened, but she accuses him of “grooming” her and throwing her off course to the extent she chose a different educational/career path than the one she originally wanted.
At worst, what happened maybe could be considered unprofessional, but it’s certainly not something that should have to be worn as a badge of shame for the rest of a man’s life. Considering her drama queen theatrics 20-some years later, it’s hardly a wonder Biss’ campaign described the relationship as “ill-advised.”
But it was in her BlueSky post where we learned the underlying cause of Wachspress’ desire to be so forthcoming with the 22-year-old nontroversy: Biss might defeat the leading female candidates in the race, and we can’t have any of that:
If he’s going to get a national profile on the strength of a younger woman’s campaign, I’m going to come out and say it: during his short-lived tenure as a math professor, Biss had an inappropriate romantic relationship with one of his undergraduate students. I was that student.
One doesn’t have to be a fan of Democrats in the slightest to see how problematic and troublesome Wachspress’ attempt to derail Biss’ campaign on these flimsy grounds is:
We should take sexual misconduct seriously. Part of doing that is defending the definition of “sexual misconduct” so that it does not become laughable. https://t.co/hnI205NGS5
— keysmashbandit (@keysmashbandit) March 17, 2026
Professors shouldn’t be hooking up with students, even when they aren’t teaching them in particular, but it’s hard for me to get super exercised about a 26 year old assistant professor (grad student assistant?) kissing a 20 year old undergrad a few times? https://t.co/YgtRzDhT0l
— Isi Breen (@isaiah_bb) March 17, 2026
so she was 20, he was 26. he waited until he wasn’t her teacher anymore. she made out with him once. he said he realized it was wrong to date a former student and broke it off. he reached out a year later to apologize to her again. she blames her career tanking because of him.… https://t.co/uIEyHWZBAn
— yul (@juliabracadabra) March 17, 2026
This is an insane and obvious attempt to torpedo the Biss campaign. A 25 and 21 year old on campus going out for a date is not “predatory.” Behavior like this is why the “Me Too” movement failed and legitimate accusations of sexual assault are met with heavy skepticism. https://t.co/UVqRp6Kx7O
— Corey Walker 🇺🇸 (@CoreyWriting) March 17, 2026
The man has a point. This is one AWFL who has truly lived up to the name, in my opinion.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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