CHICAGO — Just one day into her campaign to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin in the U.S. Senate, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on Friday received a key endorsement from Gov. JB Pritzker, nearly eight years after he first tapped her to be his running mate.
Standing outside the Bright Star Church amid a backdrop of supporters in her native Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, Stratton on Friday framed herself as a Democrat who would take on the role of “fighter” against President Donald Trump’s administration.
The lieutenant governor criticized tech billionaire-turned-White House adviser Elon Musk as the president’s “unelected sidekick” and blamed them both for creating “a constant state of crisis” since taking power in January.
“While middle class families are stuck facing the consequences of Trump’s chaos, too many in Washington are refusing to fight back,” Stratton said. “They’re using the same old playbook that they’ve always used, and it’s not working.”
Asked later whether she was referring to Durbin or his contemporaries like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Stratton demurred, praising Durbin as a “true statesman” and saying she was “grateful for his leadership.”
“But you heard him say that it is time to pass the torch,” she said, referring to Durbin’s announcement Wednesday that he wouldn’t run for a sixth term. “It’s time to bring in new energy, new leadership, new vision, new voices. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Pritzker stood next to Stratton and referred to the lieutenant governor as his “partner in governance while we’ve achieved big things for Illinois.”
Read more: Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton announces U.S. Senate campaign
“Illinois deserves a United States senator who knows how to fight for us, a senator who will never cower when the moment calls for courage, a senator who will stand up when the White House says to bend the knee, a senator who loves her country and the working people who are its backbone,” Pritzker said.
The billionaire governor, who self-funded both his gubernatorial campaigns and has in recent years spent money on national political efforts as he flirts with the possibility of a White House run, declined to say Friday how much financial backing he’d give Stratton. While he dryly noted to reporters that the limit for individual campaign contributions for federal office is $3,500, there are other routes to funnel serious money into a Senate race.
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Pritzker praised Stratton as a “champion for women’s rights, for job creation, for rural families, for farmers, for criminal justice, for early childhood education.” He credited the lieutenant governor as having played an integral role in his administration’s last six years.
“She governs with a zeal that few elected leaders can match, fueled by her lived experience as her mother’s primary caregiver, as a mother herself and as a compassionate advocate for people,” Pritzker said.
Stratton often says her interest in politics stems from serving as her mother’s primary caretaker in a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
The lieutenant governor has quickly risen through the ranks in Illinois politics, having barely served seven months in the Illinois House before she was announced as Pritzker’s running mate in August 2017.
Her professional background includes working in administrative law for state agencies and as director of the University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Public Safety and Justice.
But in political circles, her 2016 candidacy for the Illinois House shook up Springfield. Backed by then-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s political operation, Stratton unseated incumbent Democratic Rep. Ken Dunkin, who’d upset his own party by siding with then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner during a two-year budget impasse.
The 2016 Stratton-Dunkin face-off set spending records and even saw President Barack Obama get involved, endorsing Stratton.
Next year’s Democratic primary for Durbin’s Senate seat is already poised to get expensive. The Democratic Lieutenant Governor’s Association endorsed Stratton Thursday and announced it will spend at least $1 million to support her campaign.
Stratton also launched the Level Up federal political action committee in January, giving her a financial mechanism to influence federal campaigns or support her own run for office, as federal campaign finance rules prohibit the use of state campaign money for federal campaigns. The committee has not reported any fundraising as of Friday.
While Stratton was first out of the gate, other prominent Illinois Democrats are expected to enter the race. Durbin told reporters at his Springfield home Thursday he’s heard from several people interested in running for his seat.
Read more: Sen. Dick Durbin to retire after more than 4 decades in Congress | Durbin reflects on decision to retire
“I’m not planning on endorsing any particular candidate,” Durbin said. “I hope I don’t have to but I’m not ruling out the possibility in an extreme case. I just think it’s up to the voters, the Democratic voters, to make this choice moving forward.”
Schaumburg Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, for example, spent Thursday on a three-stop tour in Chicago, Bloomington and Urbana — all outside his suburban district — focused on the impact of Trump’s tariffs. Krishnamoorthi has more than $19 million in his campaign account and told CNN Friday morning that he’d be making an announcement about his intentions for 2026 “shortly.”
Other expected Democratic hopefuls include U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood of Naperville and Robin Kelly of Matteson. Durbin backed Kelly during her brief stint leading the Democratic Party of Illinois until she was ousted by Pritzker allies who installed state Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, in the role in 2022.
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Durbin announced Wednesday he will retire in 2027 after 44 years in Congress, including serving as the Senate Democrats’ whip since 2005.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
