Politics
Juliana Stratton Launches Campaign for U.S. Senate, Promising to Center ‘Middle Class’
(Video produced by Sean Keenehan)
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton became the first Democrat to launch a bid to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Thursday, wasting little time to stake her claim to be the next senator from Illinois.
Anticipating a hard-fought primary, Stratton, a Hyde Park native, waited less than 24 hours after Durbin announced his retirement to launch her bid, which had long been in the works.
In a two-minute launch video, Stratton touted her experience as lieutenant governor since 2019, working alongside Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“For too long, the middle class has been centered on the campaign trail but sidelined when it comes to real governance,” Stratton said. “I’ve spent the last six years serving as lieutenant governor of the great state of Illinois, and I’ve seen firsthand the progress that’s possible when we treat the needs of middle-class families as a focal point, not just a talking point.”
Stratton used her announcement video to signal her willingness to fight President Donald Trump and his adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, while differentiating herself from the nearly a dozen other Illinois Democrats weighing a run for the seat held by Durbin for 30 years.
“My story isn’t the story of a typical senator. Then again, typical isn’t what we need right now,” said Stratton, describing herself a mother of four and the daughter of a teacher and Navy veteran.
Stratton’s video features her speaking from in a living room strewn with newspapers and magazine pages featuring headlines about the president and pictures of Trump.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to distract us, to create such a mess that we don’t even know where to start,” Stratton said. “But in Washington, they’re still doing the same old things they’ve always done. And that old playbook isn’t working.”
In an interview Thursday with WTTW News, Stratton said “recognizing that right now we have chaos coming out of our federal government and the White House” will be a driving force in the election.
“I mean, look at what’s happening there,” Stratton said. “They are cutting access to health care, cutting Medicaid, they are threatening to cut Social Security, they are in so many ways turning us backwards.”
Stratton promised to take a new approach to national politics, fueled by her political awakening that occurred while she cared for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease. At that time, former Gov. Bruce Rauner “trying to cut health care for seniors,” prompting Stratton to run for the Illinois House in 2016.
With the endorsement of then-President Barack Obama, Stratton ousted fellow Democrat state Rep. Ken Dunkin, who had become a thorn in the side of party leaders for siding with Rauner and taking large campaign contributions from allies of the Republican governor.
A picture of Stratton from that campaign, posing alongside a sign touting Obama’s endorsement — one of the few he has made in Illinois races — is featured in the video.
The video also shows Stratton alongside Pritzker, who has yet to announce whether he will run for a third term as governor as he considers a presidential run in 2028. The billionaire is the largest donor to the Illinois Democratic Party, and his financial support could help Stratton keep pace with other, better funded, candidates in the race for U.S. Senate.
If elected, Stratton would be the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, after former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun became the first Black woman elected to the Senate. Only five Black women have ever served in the U.S. Senate.
“I’m the mom of four daughters, and I think about my daughters and so many other young girls who deserve to see people who look like them and can look at them and people like me and dream about what’s possible for themselves,” Stratton told WTTW News.
“We need to make sure that in all of the halls of power — whether it’s in Springfield or in our nation’s Capitol — that our voices are represented in all of these spaces so that we can continue to bring our authentic selves and our perspectives and our backgrounds into those spaces and be strong advocates,” Stratton said. “I think that’s the beauty of America, that we have so much diversity. And that diversity is under attack right now.”
Stratton was not the only prominent Illinois Democrat who laid the groundwork to run for Senate as Durbin weighed whether to retire. U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly are also considering bids.
Krishnamoorthi is set to launch a tour of central Illinois on Thursday to condemn Trump’s economic policies, while Kelly will hold an event on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in downstate Charleston, in the congressional district of U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, a Republican who has voted in lock step with Trump.
Other Democratic politicians considering a Senate run include Treasurer Michael Frerichs, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and state Sen. Robert Peters.
Peoria Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood is weighing a bid for his party’s nomination in the first open contest to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate since 1996.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | hcherone@wttw.com
