Democratic U.S. Rep. Danny Davis on Thursday announced he’ll retire after finishing his 15th term in Congress, handing a hefty endorsement to state Rep. La Shawn Ford to succeed him in a crowded primary.

Davis, 83, had hinted at his retirement for weeks. On Thursday morning, he made it official outside his West Side office, surrounded by dozens of supporters.

“I would hope that I helped inspire, motivate and activate people to be engaged in public policy decision-making at a different level than what was taking place when I started doing this,” Davis said. “If people don’t feel that they have a responsibility, a citizenship responsibility, then tyrants like Donald Trump end up leading the country.”

With Davis’s exodus, there are now four open congressional seats in Illinois — a shuffle

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