Juliana Stratton wins Illinois Senate primary, upsets frontrunner Raja Krishnamoorthi

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) has won the U.S. Senate Democratic primary election in Illinois, defeating U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) and Robin Kelly (D) in a tough primary. 

With the victory, Stratton is almost guaranteed to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has held the seat since 1997. Stratton announced her campaign on April 25, one day after Durbin announced his retirement. 

After polls tightened in the final weeks of the race, Stratton received significant financial backing from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D). She secured 39% of the vote as of 9:00 p.m. CST Tuesday night. At that time, Krishnamoorthi placed second with just under 34% of the vote while Kelly came in third with just under 19% of the vote. 

Stratton’s win represents a major upset in an extremely competitive race. Krishnamoorthi has been perceived as the frontrunner for the entirety of the race, as the 52-year-old entered the Senate race with $19.4 million cash on hand from his congressional campaign committee. His $30 million in fundraising is second only to U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) as the biggest in the nation for a Senate candidate.

Policy

All three candidates have similar anti-Trump policy platforms, with notable exceptions. Kelly and Stratton both have indicated support for the Medicare For All Act, while Krishnamoorthi has not committed to a universal health care policy. The congressman instead advocates for holding pharmacy benefit managers accountable and having Medicaid negotiate more prescription drug prices.

On Israel and Palestine, Krishnamoorthi has also routinely supported the United States being allies with Israel, even as the country engages in a genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip. Krishnamoorthi and Stratton have refused to acknowledge that Israel’s actions are a genocide, and neither have indicated support for stopping U.S. weapons transfers to Israel, while Kelly has.

Last week, The Intercept reported that Stratton has received donations from dozens of AIPAC donors and that former AIPAC president Lee Rosenberg is on Stratton’s finance committee. This is despite AIPAC endorsing Krishnamoorthi and all three candidates having accepted AIPAC money as recently as 2025.

Corporate spending

Like several other Illinois Democratic congressional primaries, this Senate primary received tens of millions of dollars in super PAC money from pro-Israel, pro-AI and pro-cryptocurrency lobbies.

Krishnamoorthi faced criticism last December when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that his campaign received a combined $95,000 from MAGA-aligned donors, including an executive for Palantir Technologies. Krishnamoorthi insisted that the donations only made up a small amount of his total contributions and that he later donated a portion to immigrant rights groups.

A pro-crypto PAC called Fairshake and an affiliated PAC called Protect Progress spent over $10 million opposing Stratton in the race. Protect Progress also spent a combined $307,000 in support of Kelly and Krishnamoorthi. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who endorsed Stratton, told the Washington Post that she is concerned that Durbin’s successor will be beholden to corporate interests.

“I’m deeply concerned that Senator Durbin could be replaced by someone who is deeply compromised,” Duckworth said.

Stratton has repeatedly claimed that she does not accept corporate PAC money. However, her opponents have attacked her about Pritzker spending millions of his own money supporting his former running mate. 

Krishnamoorthi is very likely to win over Republican Don Tracy in November’s general election. The congressman beat nine total candidates in the Democratic primary, including progressive Kevin Ryan, a Marine veteran and Chicago Public Schools teacher.