Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss has won the contested Democratic primary in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, part of a split decision Tuesday night for progressives and moderates who fought furiously across four Chicago-area House districts over a number of issues, including Israel policy. Along with Biss, Jattvibe News projects that state Rep. La Shawn Ford won the Democratic primary in the 7th District. Cook County commissioner Donna Miller and former Rep. Melissa Bean, who ran campaigns more in line with the party establishment and more moderate Democrats, won the Democratic primaries in the 2nd and the 8th districts, respectively.Cook County Board of Commissioners member Donna Miller speaks in Oak Lawn in June.Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesThe four races were roiled by tens of millions of dollars in outside spending, including by three anonymously funded groups that popped up in the final six weeks of the campaign and were able to get through the primary without disclosing the sources of their funding. The groups spent more than $16 million to boost Miller, Bean and a third candidate: state Sen. Laura Fine in the 9th District.Biss and Ford, meanwhile, overcame millions of dollars in outside spending against them — Biss by one of the anonymous groups and Ford by the pro-Israel United Democracy Project, a super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that spent millions to boost his main opponent.See live results hereProgressives used the advertising campaigns as a rallying cry to motivate their supporters. The allegations further inflamed the massive divide in the party over Israel policy.But while pro-Israel Democrats were dealt a setback in a New Jersey special congressional primary this year, Tuesday’s results were muddier. A handful of the candidates most critical of U.S. policy toward Israel fell short, but the clash between progressives and pro-Israel Democrats will carry on through primary season in other states. The next chapter in the fight is likely to come later this week, when the secret money groups will need to reveal their donors in regularly scheduled campaign finance reports. Biss wins 9th District raceProgressives led the day in the 9th District, where Biss is projected to win the nomination but progressive commentator Kat Abughazaleh ran right on his heels in her first bid for public office. Behind them both was Fine, a state legislator seen as the more moderate candidate. She was backed by neighboring Rep. Brad Schneider, dozens of her state legislative colleagues and the Chicago Tribune editorial board.Biss had the blessing of retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who represented the seat for decades, as well as Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Abughazaleh, meanwhile, had the backing of prominent progressive groups like Justice Democrats, as well as Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California. The starkest divide in the race came over Israel. Biss, who is Jewish and whose relatives survived the Holocaust, has criticized Israel’s government and called for a Palestinian state while saying he supports the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel.Kat Abughazaleh talks with reporters after having voted in the primary election.Nam Y. Huh / APAbughazaleh went further with her criticism of Israel, describing its recent conduct in Gaza as a genocide and calling for restrictions on military aid. Fine, who is also Jewish, has defended Israel and opposed “additional conditions on aid to Israel” while also calling for humanitarian support for people in Gaza.The flood of super PAC spending in the district, which drew more ad spending than any other House primary in the state, largely sought to benefit Fine. First, it tried to boost Fine, then it attacked Biss, before it subsequently tried to criticize Abughazaleh and raise up another, lower-polling progressive in an apparent attempt to split the progressive vote. In the race’s final day, Biss’ campaign acknowledged in a statement that he had a brief relationship with a student while he was teaching at the University of Chicago in 2004, before he cut it off because it was “ill-advised.”Miller defeats Jesse Jackson Jr. Miller, who leaned on her experience leading the state’s chapter of Planned Parenthood, cruised to victory Tuesday in a crowded field that included former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned from Congress in 2012 and later went to jail after he pleaded guilty to a corruption charge, as well as progressive state Sen. Robert Peters, who ran with the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.Miller ran with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s endorsement as she touted her time leading the state’s chapter of Planned Parenthood. She also had the support of Democratic Majority for Israel, a group that supports pro-Israel Democrats.The race drew millions of dollars in anonymous outside money aimed at boosting Miller, more than $4 million from a group called Affordable Chicago Now. Think Big, a pro-AI group affiliated with an effort receiving significant funding from OpenAI, spent more than $1 million to back Jackson.Bean’s congressional comeback in the 8th DistrictBean is poised to do what Jackson could not do in the 2nd District: win a comeback bid. Bean has the backing of Duckworth and a number of her former House colleagues, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. Her top opponent was Junaid Ahmed, a tech consultant, who was backed by prominent progressives, including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as progressive groups like Justice Democrats. Sen. Dick Durbin’s pick, Yasmeen Bankole, is poised to finish well behind the front-runners. It is another race with significant outside spending — about $4 million from Elect Chicago Women (another one of the groups with unclear funding) and $500,000 more from the AI industry-funded Think Big. Both groups are boosting Bean.There are also deep divisions over Israel, with Ahmed accusing Israel of genocide and calling for an end to all military aid to Israel, while Bean is backed by Democratic Majority for Israel. Ford comes out on top in 7th DistrictFord won with the backing of retiring Rep. Danny Davis in his bid to succeed him in the 7th District. And he did so against a prominent opponent, as well as in the only race in which the most visible outside groups didn’t hide behind anonymity. Ford defeated Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who was backed not only by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Teachers Union, but also by United Democracy Project, a super PAC aligned with AIPAC. UDP spent about $5 million to boost Conyears-Ervin, while Fairshake, a group funded significantly by the cryptocurrency company Coinbase, spent $2.5 million against Ford. Ford’s victory comes about a decade after fraud allegations roiled his political career — he eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor tax charge, and the rest of the charges were dropped.