Illinois 2026 election will determine who replaces U.S. Senator Dick Durbin: Juliana Stratton or Don Tracy?

When U.S. Senator Dick Durbin announced last April that he would not run for reelection to the Senate, it opened up a seat that had been filled for nearly 30 years. Durbin has served as the U.S. Senator for Illinois since 1997. Now he will be replaced either with  Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton or former state GOP chairman Don Tracy.

Stratton has served as Gov. JB Pritzker's second-hand-woman since he was first elected in 2018. Before that, she served one term as a member of the Illinois State House. She defeated 10 other Democrats in the March primary and won more than 40% of the vote.

Stratton has campaigned on allowing Medicare coverage for all, raising the federal minimum wage and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She also supports the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore provisions in the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court, backs stronger gun control laws, and supports restoring abortion protections the Supreme Court struck down when they overturned Roe v, Wade.

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Stratton in October. It was not the former president's first time throwing his weight behind Stratton; in 2016, while sitting president, he made a rare endorsement of her in her State House run to represent Hyde Park.

Tracy won his March primary against five other Republican candidates by a similar margin to Stratton, with more than 40% of the vote. He is an attorney and the former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. He said during his campaign he'd fight for Illinois in Washington without being a "rubber stamp" for either party, and that his priorities include reducing government spending, affordable energy, lowering drug and insurance prices and securing the border.