Stratton secures Pritzker’s backing in Senate bid, positions herself as
‘fighter’ of Trump
[April 26, 2025]
By Hannah Meisel and Ben Szalinski
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.”
“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.
ritzker 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.
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Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton speaks to supporters outside a church in
Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood on Friday, April 25, 2025.
(Capitol News Illinois photo by Hannah Meisel)
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.
“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.
Durbin announced Wednesday he will retire in 2027 after 44 years in
Congress, including serving as the Senate Democrats’ whip since 2005.
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