Jennifer Davis, a Republican candidate for Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, said she is running to address voter engagement, families and technology policy as she seeks to succeed Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is running for U.S. Senate.
A Kane County resident and former technology entrepreneur, Davis said her campaign is motivated by concerns over voter disengagement and state policy priorities.
“The motivation for getting involved is watching the politicians steal our votes with gerrymandering and also allowing them to be stolen through voter apathy in our district and in our state,” Davis told the Kane County Reporter. “My entire goal out of this whole thing is to change the vision that people have of their engagement in politics and to get people outside of politics engaged in politics. You can only do that by winning, which is why I have been fixated on making sure I’m running a race that is strategically designed to win.”
Davis said she has long held conservative views but has limited prior political involvement.
“I have always been conservative, I’ve never been anything other than conservative, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and pro-First Amendment,” she said. “I think families and freedom are the most important things that we do in everything we do.”
She noted her previous political experience includes one day working on Al Salvi’s Senate campaign 30 years ago and a donation to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“I have never been politically engaged other than working for one day on Al Salvi’s Senate campaign 30 years ago and donating a hundred bucks to Donald Trump in 2016 because I could not believe he was going to do it,” she said. “Outside of that, that’s all I’ve ever done. I’ve never been involved.”
Davis co-founded a software company in 1988 focused on contractors and trades. She said her work helped plumbers, electricians and HVAC contractors adopt digital systems.
“We watched probably a third of our customers create first-generation wealth through the use of technology in the trades,” she said. “I got to teach plumbers and HVAC guys how to use a tablet to make money just like they turned a wrench. It was a pretty fabulous career.”
She said that experience informs her campaign approach and policy focus, particularly around technology and entrepreneurship.
Davis said her platform emphasizes addressing voter apathy, strengthening families, promoting freedom and building technological literacy in government.
“Everything that we do, we have to be fighting voter apathy,” she said. “You note the silent majority, and then you look at our district, 37% of our district are independent voters. People aren’t independent about politics, they just hate both sides.”
Davis highlighted what she described as shifting momentum in the district.
“We lost in 2016 by 18 points. We lost in 2020 by 16 points. We lost in 2024 by less than five points,” she said. “There is tremendous momentum swinging our direction in this district, and those are the things that we are fixated on.”
She projected the margin of victory in 2026 could be small.
“We will operate this campaign every single day as though we are down by four points with two points left in the game,” Davis said. “I’m a coach and an athlete. I’ve been in sports for decades. It is the perfect culmination of bringing together timing, talent, discipline, and work, and that is what I plan to do on this campaign in the same exact way.”
A mother of 10, seven biological and three adopted, Davis said her family experience shapes her policy priorities on families and communities.
“For me, we just have to be fixated on putting families and freedom first,” she said. “It has to be the family. You build a strong family that builds a strong community, you build a stronger community, you build strong states. You build strong states, you build a strong country, and everything has to come from the ground up. We don’t build houses from the roof down, we build them from the basement up, and we have to be fixated on that.”
She cited Illinois’ population loss as one of her top concerns.
“In our household, half of our kids live out of state because of cost of living and opportunity, and both of those we have to change that trajectory, and the only way to do any of it is to put control back in the hands of families,” Davis said.
In 2025, Illinois lost more than 40,000 residents who moved to other states. However, Davis said the state saw an influx of illegal immigrants, which she said contributes to fiscal challenges.
“Our population went up, but our population went up with people who are takers, not contributors, which is why our budget is just in such a disaster,” she said. “The legacy of our generation is giving broken families a broken infrastructure, broken government, broken educational system, broken health care system, and by the way, we’re broke.”
Davis raised concerns about student protests and supervision during school hours, citing a recent Dundee Middle School walkout. In that incident, an 11-year-old special-needs student wandered near a busy intersection before calling his mother.
She questioned how schools could allow students to leave campus unsupervised while parents must provide ID and permission for other activities.
“When parents have to provide an ID to pick up their children and permission to attend a supervised event, and in the same system, we’re allowing children to walk out the front door,” Davis said. “This is politics.”
While affirming students’ First Amendment rights, Davis said protests during school hours should not interfere with education.
“Those children are in school to be educated, and the pathetic outcomes of our state’s educational system should be what school administrators and teachers are fixated on, not politicizing our kids,” she said.
Davis also discussed technology and policy, emphasizing artificial intelligence (AI), digital systems and online safety for children.
“The AI race is the new race,” she said. “It’s replaced the arms race of the 80s.”
She said few members of Congress have technology experience, and lawmakers need to understand AI, blockchain and digital systems shaping the future.
Davis described her campaign’s use of technology and data for voter outreach.
“I spent 35 years in data,” she said. “I’ve been working with databases since before people knew what they were. We’ve been using AI since the early 90s. None of this is new.”
Her team built a centralized voter database with layered voter, consumer and metadata to target persuadable voters.
“There is no cheat code in building the army,” Davis said. “It’s outworking every single person every single day and being a little bit smarter than they are by using tools and technology. We have done a really good job of that.”
She says conservatives must educate voters and compete within existing rules, leveraging improved systems and AI to counter what she describes as the opposing “political machine.”
“What conservatives have made a mistake on over the last decade is that because we don’t like the game, we choose not to play,” she said.
“I’m old school,” she said. “I would like to go on Election Day and vote, and that’s it, but that’s not the world that we’re in, so we have to be fixated on playing by the rules of the game that we’re in. Part of it is educating Republicans and conservatives about the importance of early voting and vote by mail.”
Davis is running against Republican contenders Kevin Ake, Herbert Hebein and Mark Rice for the 8th Congressional District seat.
“The primary is just a path,” Davis said. “It’s a stepping stone to the general. Everything that we have built, we are building with the general in mind.”
She contrasted her campaign operation with her opponents’, noting volunteer engagement, door-to-door outreach and endorsements.
Internal polling, she said, showed her name recognition matched Rice’s before spending on media. She said her campaign had 35 petition volunteers, more than 2,000 doors personally knocked, and roughly 5,000–6,000 voter contacts.
“I don’t think Mark Rice has knocked on a single door,” she said.
Davis has received endorsements from local officials, party leaders, advocacy organizations and editorial boards. Individual supporters include Gilberts Mayor Guy Zambetti, former Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger, DuPage County Board Member Jim Zay, Huntley Village President Tim Hoeft, former State Senator Dan McConchie, Milton Township Republican Chairman Jeff Castle, Geneva Township Republican Chairwoman Sue Dixon, Barrington Hills Village Trustee Marsha McClary, Wayne Township Supervisor Randy Ramey, Carol Stream Mayor Frank Saverino and DuKane ABATE leaders Chris Hansen and Randy Ramey.
Her campaign has also earned the backing of ABATE of Illinois, the Illinois Young Republicans, the Federation of Illinois Young Republicans, the United Hellenic Voters of America, and the Hanover and Dundee Township Republican organizations. Editorial endorsements include the Daily Herald, Journal & Topics and the Chicago Tribune.
The 8th Congressional District includes parts of Cook, DuPage and Kane counties, including Des Plaines, Wood-Dale, Itasca, Bloomingdale, Roselle, Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Hoffman Estates, South Barrington, Streamwood, Carpentersville, West Dundee, Gilberts, Elgin, South Elgin, Wildrose and Williamsburg Green.
