Illinois’ 3rd District contains a small piece of southwest Chicago, along with west and southwest suburbs of the city in Cook and DuPage counties. The district is 99.6% urban, and is predominantly White (40.74%), followed by Hispanic (33.1%) and Black (5.27%). The median household income is $56,579, and 24.9% of adults have graduated from college.

The Democratic candidate and incumbent is Daniel Lipinski, who has represented the district since 2005, and was preceded in office by his father William Lipinski. The Republican candidate is Arthur Jones, who has run unsuccessfully for many local offices over the past 40 years. The district leans Democratic at the national level, and has given between 53% and 64% of the vote to Democratic presidential candidates over the last 20 years.