Nabeela Syed, 27-Year-Old Democrat With Roots in Hyderabad, Flips Illinois Senate Seat in Record-Setting Race

State Rep. Nabeela Syed, a 27-year-old Democrat from the northwest Chicago suburbs, has unseated Republican state Sen. Darby Hills in the 26th District. The race drew about $6.5 million in contributions, one of the most expensive General Assembly contests in Illinois history, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Associated Press called the race for Syed on election night.

Syed won 57% of the vote, flipping a Republican-held seat as Democrats expanded their supermajority in Springfield. The daughter of immigrants from Hyderabad, India, she became the youngest woman and one of the first Muslims elected to the Illinois General Assembly when she won a House seat in 2022.

She was endorsed by Indian American Impact, a political organization dedicated to building political power, mobilizing South Asian voters and electing Indian American and South Asian leaders to public office.

A Palatine Childhood with Hyderabadi Roots

Syed’s parents moved to Palatine from Hyderabad, India, in the 1980s. She told NBC News in 2022 that they came for more opportunity and to raise children who could thrive. She was born and raised in Palatine, graduated from high school there and grew up in the district she now represents.

Her first political memory dates to her senior year of high school in Palatine. NBC News reported that racist and anti-Muslim rhetoric around her that year left her questioning whether she belonged in the only home she had known.

Syed said that while canvassing she had heard hateful, intimidating comments at voters’ doors. “I shouldn’t have to prove that I was born in this country,” she said on election night.

Her family figures in her account of why she ran. Maktoob Media, an Indian outlet, headlined its post-election profile with a line it attributed to her: “My mother said if I didn’t do it, who would?”

From Berkeley to Springfield

Syed graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021, the Sun-Times reported, with a degree in political science; her campaign has said she also studied business administration. Before running for office, she worked as an assistant director of digital strategy at the nonprofit Civic Nation and interned at EMILY’s List. In 2021 she managed a local school board campaign, according to her Wikipedia biography.

In 2022, at 23, she ran for the 51st House District against Republican incumbent Chris Bos. She won the Democratic primary with about 72% of the vote, then unseated Bos with 53.3%, according to Illinois State Board of Elections results compiled on Wikipedia. Her win made her the youngest member of the General Assembly. Along with Abdelnasser Rashid, she became one of its first two Muslim members. She won reelection in 2024 with about 56% of the vote.

In the House, Syed focused on consumer protection, health care and voting access. Her campaign website lists measures to curb price gouging on generic drugs, expand breast cancer screening, improve access to mental health care and strengthen public school funding.

The $6.5 Million Race

The 26th District covers parts of Cook, Lake, McHenry and Kane counties in the northwest suburbs. Hills, a former prosecutor and village trustee from Barrington Hills, was appointed to the seat after Sen. Dan McConchie resigned, the Sun-Times reported.

The money. Syed raised at least $4.7 million and Hills $1.8 million, according to Alisa Kaplan of Reform for Illinois, which runs the Illinois Sunshine campaign finance database. More than $3 million of Syed’s total came from the Democratic Party of Illinois and the Illinois Senate Democratic Fund, controlled by Senate President Don Harmon, and she also drew substantial union money. On the other side, a political action committee formed in October to oppose Syed. North Barrington’s Vince Foglia funded it with $500,000, and Foglia and his family gave another $500,000 to Hills’s campaign, the Sun-Times reported.

The issues. Syed named affordability and access to health care as top priorities. Both candidates called for more oversight of data center development. Syed’s campaign said the companies driving that power demand should bear its costs, The National reported. Hills campaigned on public safety, lower taxes and spending controls. She made Syed’s age and experience an issue, called her too extreme for the district, and, after the race, criticized the money Democrats spent and their tactics.

The climate. Syed said that while canvassing she had heard hateful, intimidating comments at voters’ doors. “I shouldn’t have to prove that I was born in this country,” she said on election night, the Sun-Times reported.

Her win was one of several Republican-held Senate seats Democrats flipped on Tuesday. Sen. Seth Lewis and Sen. Erica Harriss also lost, The Center Square reported, widening the Democrats’ supermajority.