Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won Tuesday's Democratic primary for US Senate, edging out two sitting members of the US House to advance to a November general election against Republican nominee Don Tracy, former state party chair, the AP reports. The retirement of US Sen Dick Durbin, the Senate's longtime No. 2 Democrat, triggered a competitive campaign on the Democratic side, drawing as candidates Stratton and US Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, among others. Furious fundraising and sharp elbows marked the race, which tested the influence of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker. The governor, whose name has been floated as a 2028 presidential contender, backed Stratton.
Among 10 Democrats in the race, Stratton lagged in fundraising but had the powerful backing of Pritzker, who put millions into a PAC supporting her election and campaigned with her around the state. In the GOP primary, Tracy, an attorney who led the Illinois Republican Party from 2021 to 2024, bested five other candidates. The state last had a Republican in the Senate a decade ago, when Mark Kirk was defeated by current Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
Meanwhile, Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune who was unopposed in his primary, is the first governor to seek a third term since the 1980s. And a spate of House retirements led to open seats with crowded contests across the Chicago area where the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and PACs supporting the cryptocurrency and AI industries spent big on several contests. Most primary winners in the Democratic stronghold are expected to win in November, shaping a new generation of leadership in the state's congressional delegation. Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, a former state senator whom Pritzker handily defeated in 2022, bested three other Republicans vying for the nomination.