Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the state’s open Senate seat, defeating Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly in a hard-fought contest that centered more on style than substance.
Stratton had 40 percent of the vote when The Associated Press called the Democratic race to succeed retiring Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, at 10:39 p.m. Eastern. Krishnamoorthi trailed with 33 percent, and Kelly had 18.5 percent. Seven other candidates split the remaining share of the vote.
Stratton, who served one term in the Illinois House before joining now-Gov. JB Pritzker on the gubernatorial ticket in 2018, starts off as the heavy favorite in the general election, given the state’s Democratic tilt. She will face former Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy, who won a three-way GOP primary Tuesday.
Stratton’s win represents a show of political strength for Pritzker, who helped fund a super PAC that spent on behalf of his lieutenant governor. Pritzker didn’t face any Democratic opposition in his own primary Tuesday as he seeks a third term this year and weighs a 2028 presidential bid.
“Juliana Stratton fights every day to take on the rich and powerful and stand up for the people of Illinois,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement. “As a lifelong Illinoisan and the daughter of a Navy veteran and a public school teacher, Juliana’s commitment to standing up for working families runs deep — and now, she’s taking that fight to the U.S. Senate.”
During the campaign, the three leading Democratic Senate candidates all sought to position themselves as strong opponents of President Donald Trump, particularly on the issue of immigration enforcement. Stratton called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and hit Krishnamoorthi over his past votes to provide funding to the agency and for accepting donations from an executive of Palantir, a company that has a contract with ICE, which his campaign later donated.
“I don’t hear anybody … say that they’re looking for more of the same in Washington,” Stratton said in an interview before the primary. “I always say that we have a president who is not a normal president, and therefore you can’t just bring the sort of ‘go along to get along’ mentality.”
If elected, Stratton would become the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate and the second from Illinois, after Democrat Carol Moseley Braun.
Despite entering the year trailing Krishnamoorthi in polls, Stratton, who also had the backing of Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., closed the gap during the final stretch. Her campaign spent about $1.1 million on ads, according to AdImpact, but the Illinois Future PAC, a super PAC supported partially by billionaire Pritzker, spent at least $12.2 million to support her and oppose Krishnamoorthi, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Still, that was less than the nearly $29 million Krishnamoorthi’s campaign spent on ads, according to AdImpact.
Other outside groups also spent heavily in Illinois in the lead-up to Tuesday’s primaries, including on the Senate race.
A pair of super PACs tied to the cryptocurrency industry spent a combined $10.3 million opposing Stratton to seemingly boost Krishnamoorthi’s campaign. The Indian American Impact Fund also spent over $1 million to oppose Stratton and support Krishnamoorthi, who was hoping to become the nation’s second Indian American senator.
In a concession statement, Krishnamoorthi said he had called Stratton to congratulate her on her primary win, adding, “I trust that she will continue the lasting legacy that Senator Durbin leaves behind.”
