Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL), one of many candidates speculated to jump into the 2028 presidential race, has his first test of national influence coming this spring: whether he can successfully get his endorsed candidate, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, elected to the U.S. Senate.
The seat held by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is open for the first time since 1997. The winner, given the state’s solid blue lean, is all but assured to be the next senator from Illinois.
The race has larger implications, as well. Pritzker, the heir to the Hyatt Hotels empire, threw $5 million behind Stratton to boost her in her competition against Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Robin Kelly (D-IL). The long-expected expenditure comes as Stratton has lagged financially behind Krishnamoorthi, who entered 2026 with $15.2 million.
Pritzker’s largess, however, does not match the attention the race is getting either at home in Illinois or across the nation. In fact, the state’s Midwest neighbors, such as Michigan, Minnesota, and even deep-red Iowa, have captured more attention for their Senate races this year.
“It’s just so lowkey,” Illinois strategist Robin Johnson said. “Nobody’s talking about it. And to me, I’m kind of an old-fashioned romantic in politics. It’s a U.S. Senate seat. It’s important. There’s only 100 of them, and it’s just, it’s just too bad that there’s just not any buzz. And none of the candidates are really striking the fancy of the public out there.”
Johnson and several other Democratic strategists told the Washington Examiner in interviews that because of this, Stratton’s success in the race won’t necessarily make or break Pritzker’s chances as a Democratic contender for the next presidential election — but it couldn’t hurt, either.
A longtime Illinois Democratic operative, granted anonymity due to the close relationships held with all three Senate candidates, said Pritzker’s name and money have largely been carrying Stratton’s race. But the governor only providing $5 million is “nowhere near what I think a lot of us expected him to put in if he was really serious about matching Raja’s” spending.
“I think he’s going to do enough to say that he put in money behind his lieutenant governor, who is a black woman, certainly qualified for this. … But definitely not enough for him to be like, ‘I did everything possible to match the considerable headwinds that she could face coming into this,’” the operative said.
The operative noted that a Stratton win would give Pritzker a “built-in surrogate” in the Senate to sing his praises come presidential primary season.
“[She’d be] somebody that would have six years to say, ‘Look at what this guy can do for core democratic constituencies and priorities.’ And certainly electing a black woman to the Senate, Illinois obviously has already done that once, but she would be able to claim that because of him, they were able to do it again,” the operative said. “But, like, I mean, do I think that helps them win Iowa? Probably not.”
Veteran strategist Brad Bannon said while it would be “not great” for Pritzker if Stratton loses, his endorsement of her alone could give him “brownie points” with black voters.
“African Americans are a large block in Democratic presidential primary voters, and I’m guessing here that making a solid effort for Stratton, in victory or defeat, sends a message to African American primary voters in 2028,” Bannon said.
“In a perfect world, if you’re governor, running for president, you’d like to think you have the wherewithal to get your candidate nominated and elected, but honestly, I’m not sure it makes much difference,” Bannon said. “I don’t even know if anybody will remember a year from now what happened in the Illinois Senate race.”
Much of that is due to the “boring” nature of the Senate Democratic primary. Johnson called the Democratic candidates “indistinguishable” and the race “uninspiring.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has remained neutral in Illinois’s race, as is customary with many congressional campaign arms, often declining to endorse in primaries. Durbin has not endorsed a successor, either, which should have made the contest all the more interesting.
The Illinois Democratic primary is just as undecided, with one-third saying they don’t know who they’ll vote for ahead of the March 17 primary, per NBC 5 Chicago. This comes even after the candidates have held multiple debates, with Krishnamoorthi and Stratton largely attacking one another on national immigration policy.
The Illinois Democratic operative said a major reason for the uneventful race is Krishnamoorthi’s war chest, making him an easy front-runner and, therefore, the other candidates somewhat of a lost cause.
Krishnamoorthi has raised the second-most money for any U.S. Senate candidate nationwide. He is significantly ahead of Stratton, with a recent Public Policy Polling survey finding him with 34% of the vote compared to Stratton’s 23%. Several polls from earlier this year have found the Illinois congressman leading the lieutenant governor by over 20 percentage points.
Stratton herself has insisted she would not take corporate super PAC money. But her competitors have knocked her for benefiting from billionaire donations, such as those from Pritzker to unaffiliated but pro-Stratton PACs. Kelly’s campaign pointed the Washington Examiner to the congresswoman accusing Stratton of “hypocrisy” in a recent debate.
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“Juliana Stratton should spare us the lectures on corporate PAC money when she rakes in millions of corporate dollars through her multiple Super PACs,” Kelly said in a statement. “Juliana’s words don’t match her funding. While she talks about opposing corporate PACs, her Super PACs are fueled by billionaire money, ICE contractors, and private prison profiteers.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Pritzker, Stratton, and Krishnamoorthi campaigns for comment.
