Updated on: March 18, 2026 / 12:29 AM EDT / CBS Chicago
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is projected to win the heated and crowded Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Dick Durbin for nearly 30 years, according to CBS News analysis. She emerged on top of a field of 10 candidates that included U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly.
With about 80% of the vote reported, Stratton led with 39.4%, Krishnamoorthi had 33.6% and Kelly 18.4%. None of the other seven Democratic candidates reached double digits.
Stratton is expected to face Don Tracy, an attorney and former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, who is projected to win the Republican primary for the same seat.
If elected in November, Stratton would be the fourth African American elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois, joining Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama and Roland Burris. She is also viewed as the heavy favorite in the general election; since Durbin’s initial 1996 win, Illinois has elected only two Republicans to the Senate — Peter Fitzgerald (1998) and Mark Kirk (2010).
Durbin, the Senate Democratic Whip and one of the chamber’s longest-serving members, announced he will retire at the end of his term. “The people of Illinois have honored me to serve as their Senator for three decades,” he said late Tuesday. “I am forever grateful. But now, I look forward to passing the torch to Juliana Stratton at the end of my term.” Durbin is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he led the 2022 confirmation hearings for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. His retirement is expected to prompt a broader shakeup of Democratic Senate leadership.
The primary became one of the nation’s most expensive Senate contests in 2026. Federal records show Krishnamoorthi raised more than $30 million — among the largest hauls in the country for Senate campaigns — while Stratton raised over $4 million and Kelly more than $3 million. Outside spending also played a role: Illinois Future PAC spent more than $10 million supporting Stratton, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker funded the PAC with at least $5 million.
Funding and outside money were focal points in the final debate. Kelly criticized Stratton over the large sums from Pritzker, saying, “One billionaire family has donated 73% of what you have received, so are you obligated to them?” Stratton targeted Krishnamoorthi over his ties to a Palantir executive’s donation that he later returned, saying he did not return the funds until public scrutiny. Krishnamoorthi countered that while leading the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, the DLGA solicited and received donations from CoreCivic, a private prison operator that ran the ICE Broadview Center.