CBS News analysis projects Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton as the winner of the crowded Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat long held by Sen. Dick Durbin. With roughly 80% of precincts reporting, Stratton led the field of 10 candidates with 39.4% of the vote. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi trailed at 33.6% and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly had 18.4%. None of the other seven Democratic contenders reached double digits.
Stratton is expected to be the Democratic nominee in November and will likely face Republican Don Tracy, an attorney and former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, who is projected to win the GOP primary for the same seat.
If elected to the Senate, Stratton would become the fourth African American to represent Illinois in the chamber, joining Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama and Roland Burris. Illinois is considered a Democratic-leaning state for Senate contests: since Durbin first won in 1996, only two Republicans have been elected to the Senate from Illinois, Peter Fitzgerald in 1998 and Mark Kirk in 2010.
Durbin, the Senate Democratic Whip and one of the chamber’s longest-serving members, announced he will retire at the end of his current term. He expressed gratitude to Illinois voters for allowing him to serve for three decades and signaled his support for a successor. Durbin is a senior 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 departure is expected to trigger changes in Democratic Senate leadership.
The Democratic primary was among the most expensive Senate contests in the nation this cycle. Federal filings show Krishnamoorthi raised more than $30 million, one of the largest totals nationally for Senate campaigns. Stratton reported raising just over $4 million and Kelly more than $3 million. Outside spending was significant as well: Illinois Future PAC spent in excess of $10 million backing Stratton, and records show Governor J.B. Pritzker provided at least $5 million to that PAC.
Funding and outside money were recurring themes in the campaign and the final debate. Kelly criticized Stratton over major contributions tied to Pritzker, highlighting that a large share of her funding came from that source. Stratton pressed Krishnamoorthi over a donation linked to an executive at Palantir that he later returned, contending the return followed public scrutiny. Krishnamoorthi pushed back by noting that while he led the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, the group solicited and accepted donations from CoreCivic, the private prison operator that ran the ICE Broadview Center.
With these results, Stratton appears poised to carry the Democratic nomination into the general election as Illinois voters prepare to replace a long-serving senator.