Dem Congressional Candidate Admits To Scandal Hours Earlier than Polls Open
Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Illinois, and a leading candidate in the Democratic Party primary for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, admitted on Tuesday that he had a relationship with a former undergraduate student while serving as a postdoctoral instructor of mathematics at the University of Chicago.
The acknowledgment came through a campaign spokesperson in response to public statements by the former student, Megan Wachspress, who now works as a lecturer at Stanford Law School. The disclosure occurred hours before polls opened for the tightly contested primary election.
“In 2004, when Daniel was 26 and before he met his wife, Dr. Wachspress was a 20-year-old student in a course Daniel taught during his time as a postdoctoral instructor at the University of Chicago,” a campaign spokesman said in a statement to The Daily Northwestern. “After the course ended, Daniel and Dr. Wachspress went on a handful of dates over the course of a few weeks. Daniel realized then, as he does now, that it was ill-advised, and he ended it.”
Biss speaks after “confronting” CBP Commander Greg Bovino during Operation Midway Blitz on December 17, 2025
Wachspress, who attended the University of Chicago from 2002 to 2006 as a mathematics and political science major, described the sequence in posts on Bluesky and a Substack article in the final days of the campaign.
She stated that Biss, then an instructor, provided her increased attention during the academic quarter, including extended office hours and emails on non-mathematics topics. After the course concluded, Biss emailed her to meet socially.
She added that years later, after reconnecting professionally regarding her energy work with the Sierra Club, Biss “offered an apology, of sorts.”
“It took becoming a professor myself to realize the implications – what it means to be attracted to someone who categorically has less power than you. I don’t know if it’s disqualifying, but there are too many women not getting a platform as a result of behavior like this for me not to say something,” Wachpress added.
Biss served as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago from September 2002 to August 2008.
The disclosure took place on the day of the Democratic Party primary for Illinois’ 9th Congressional district, an overwhelmingly blue seat that has drawn several far-left candidates. The district covers North Side Chicago neighborhoods including Uptown, Edgewater, Andersonville, and Rogers Park, along with suburbs such as Evanston, Skokie, Glenview, Algonquin, Prospect Heights, and Fox River Grove.
Down the stretch of the race, polling showed Biss maintaining a lead in a crowded field of 15 candidates, though the margin has narrowed with significant undecided voters. A Public Policy Polling survey for the Evanston RoundTable conducted March 9-10 found Biss leading with 24 percent.
This slightly edged out leftist content creator Kat Abughazaleh, who garnered 20 percent of the vote. Both Biss and Abughazaleh have participated in several anti-ICE disruptions, which led to Abughazaleh’s indictment last year.
State Senator Laura Fine came in third with 14 percent, while her colleague, Mike Simmons, received 10 percent, An additional 17 percent of respondents indicated that they were still undecided.