Age: 45

Hometown: St. Charles

Education: Graduated in 1984 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University; earned a law degree in 1991 from Stanford University.

Occupation: Attorney

Family: Married, one child

Prior political experience: Has held no elected office; served on the San Mateo, Calif. Housing Authority Board in 1988.

Stein moved to the district 21/2years ago, and has been in private legal practice for 12 years

Age: 52

Hometown: Geneva

Education: Graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in physics; earned a PhD in physics in 1983 from Harvard University.

Occupation: Businessman and scientist

Family: Divorced, with two children

Prior political experience: None
Foster is the co-founder of Electronic Theatre Controls, a lighting company based in Wisconsin; he also worked as a scientist at Fermilab in Batavia from 1984 to 2006.

Hometown: Yorkville

Education: Graduated in 2002 from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Occupation: Carpenter

Family: Married, no children

Prior political experience: Has held no elected office; lost a congressional race to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert in 2006.

Laesch served in the U.S. Navy between 1995 and 1999. While enlisted, Laesch attended the Naval Intelligence Training Center in Virginia.

Age: 46

Hometown: Geneva

Education: Graduated in 1986 from Illinois College with a bachelor’s degree in communications

Occupation: Recently founded a renewable energy company

Family: Married, with six children

Prior political experience: Former Democratic precinct committeeman; ran unsuccessfully in 2006 for state representative in the 50th district.

Hometown: Aurora

Education: Graduated from Duke University; earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Occupation: Tax specialist/CPA and state senator.

Family: Married, with four sons.

Prior political experience: Illinois state senator for 15 years.

Lauzen and his wife built their small tax service business from the ground up. He was first elected to the State Senate in 1992, and has served in both the 21st and 25th Districts.

Hometown: Sugar Grove

Education: Graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; earned an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Occupation:  Dairy magnate and investment mogul.

Family: Married, with five children.

Prior political experience: None; ran unsuccessfully for the senate twice and for governor once.

Though known mostly for Oberweis Dairy, Oberweis made his fortune largely through his investment management company, Oberweis Asset Management.

Hometown: Evanston

Education: Graduated from Loyola University.

Occupation: Writer

Family: Single, no children.

Prior political experience: None

Dilger says he has been trying to break into the writing biz for years. He has written a number of unpublished plays and one self-published novel, "Doc Pete Wison and the World."