Rep. Nabeela Syed (D-Palatine), left, and Ela Township Trustee Tosi Ufodike, right.   

Rep. Nabeela Syed’s (D-Palatine) election in 2022 came under a bright spotlight as she became the youngest Democrat elected to Springfield at 23 years old. With one term under belt, Syed is looking to further establish herself as part of the northwest suburbs’ political future.  

Syed is up against Tosi Ufodike, a Hawthorn Woods Republican who currently serves as an Ela Township trustee. Syed snatched the 51st District seat away from Republicans in 2022 after the redistricting process and is looking to keep it in Democratic hands. 

The 51st House District stretches from Hawthorn Woods to Interstate 90 and includes parts of Lake Zurich, Inverness, Palatine, Deer Park, Kildeer and Long Grove. After the 2022 remap, the district leans solidly to the left and supported Gov. JB Pritzker by 13 points in 2022.  

Syed said she believes her two short years in the House have already allowed her to deliver key results for constituents. She led a bill in response to water issues with Aqua Illinois in Hawthorn Woods last summer and is pushing for state lawmakers to create a board to regulate prescription drug prices. 

“When I say I’m working for the community, I mean it,” Syed said.   

Syed and Ufodike met at a debate in Barrington earlier this month hosted by the League of Women Voters and discussed their opposing views on guns, climate change and budget issues.   

Ufodike said she believes she has already set herself apart in her community on climate change. She opposed building a solar farm in Hawthorn Woods.   

“We didn’t know the implications, the effect it was going to have on people, the residents,” Ufodike said. “We didn’t know the effect that it was going to have on our pets — I have a dog — so we fought for that because climate change isn’t only thinking about stuff that’s on the federal level. It’s stuff that happens right in our community. We have to respect our forest preserves, we have to respect the needs of our residents, and we have to make sure that we do our due diligence every time that there’s a solar farm or something that comes in our backyard, we have to put our people and our residents first.” 

Syed said she is more in favor of building clean energy sources, including a solar farm that has been proposed for Lake Michigan.  

Ufodike argued she’s also properly read the pulse of her district on key issues like abortion and that she is against abortion except in certain cases.  

“I trust women, I have two daughters … when I knock doors, [women] talk about groceries, they talk about the high cost of living, they talk about their kids and their curriculum and their schools,” Ufodike said. “Women’s only issue is not abortion.” 

Budget issues were a key portion of the debate. Syed was one of several House Democrats who voted against the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.  

“I thought the budget wasn’t sustainable,” Syed said. “I know we have a transit fiscal cliff coming up. That is why I voted no on the most recent budget because I didn’t think we were being smart enough on our taxpayer dollars. It’s not important to me to toe party lines.” 

The state’s pension debt is a problem that needs to be addressed, Syed said.  

“The pension debt remains one of the biggest things that has irked me as a legislator,” Syed said. “As a young person, I see decisions that were made 20, 30 years ago where they decided to kick the can down the road. They didn’t pay down their pension obligations. They didn’t invest in education at the level they should. And now here we are with the state of Illinois in a very tough predicament for you all, for me and for future generations.”  

Ufodike expressed frustration with unfunded mandates approved by the General Assembly. 

“We cannot just continue to accept Springfield mandates,” Ufodike said. “If Springfield wants to pass a mandate, they should also have a plan to pay for it and not expect that we can continue to increase our property taxes.” 

Ufodike hasn’t received much financial support for her campaign. She raised just $13,531 between July 1 and Sept. 30 and spent $23,329. She began October with $58,290 at her disposal. Most of her fundraising came from individuals in addition to a $10,000 loan she made to her campaign. Her spending focused on consulting and polling as well as ads on Facebook.  

Ufodike has received little help from the House Republican Organization (HRO), indicating the district is not a priority for Republicans to pick up this cycle just two years after Republican Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) was ousted by Syed. HRO’s only expenditure on the was picking up the tab for $1,500 of production costs. In addition to that, Ufodike’s only reportable contribution since Oct. 1 of $1,000 or more was $3,000 from a Lake Zurich resident. 

Like most other General Assembly Democrats, Syed has received ample support from Speaker Chris Welch’s (D-Hillside) Democrats for the Illinois House committee and the Democratic Party of Illinois. She raised $185,743 and spent $150,429, leaving her with $430,827 at the beginning of October. Her spending was in addition to Welch and the party picking up $396,200 worth of mailing and digital advertising costs. 

Since Oct. 1, Syed has reported $308,451 of reportable contributions of $1,000 or more, with most of it attributed to campaign assistance from the caucus or state party.