Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the Democratic primary race for Senate in Illinois on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, riding the power of political and financial help from her chief patron, Gov. JB Pritzker, to prevail in a bitter three-way contest.
Ms. Stratton defeated two veteran members of Congress, Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, in a race marked by efforts from Mr. Krishnamoorthi’s allies and Mr. Pritzker’s detractors to split Black voters and hand the nomination to Mr. Krishnamoorthi.
Ms. Stratton, 60, will be heavily favored to win the general election in deep-blue Illinois, where no Republican has won a statewide election since 2014. She would be just the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate, and her potential arrival could mean that three Black women serve together in the chamber for the first time in U.S. history.
She has spent most of her political career inside Mr. Pritzker’s orbit, having won election to a single term in the Illinois State House before he chose her to be his running mate in the 2018 election.
The primary in Illinois to fill the seat being vacated by Senator Richard J. Durbin, who is retiring after five terms, was defined early by personal animosity among the candidates and Mr. Pritzker.
After President Trump sent federal agents to Chicago last fall, the three contenders jostled to be viewed as the most hostile to his deportation agenda.
And in the closing weeks, groups backing Mr. Krishnamoorthi and Ms. Stratton unleashed large amounts of spending on ads — with some Krishnamoorthi allies trying to elevate Ms. Kelly in an effort to tank Ms. Stratton.
The three candidates had no major policy differences, only degrees of separation. Mr. Krishnamoorthi pledged to “abolish Trump’s ICE,” Ms. Stratton said she would eliminate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entirely and Ms. Kelly introduced legislation to impeach Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary who was later fired by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, a five-term congressman whose district covers affluent western suburbs of Chicago, spent years preparing for a Senate campaign. He entered the race with a $20 million head start over Ms. Stratton, who had not run for election on a ballot by herself since winning a seat in the Illinois House in 2016, and Ms. Kelly, a veteran congresswoman who was not known as a formidable fund-raiser.
All told, Mr. Krishnamoorthi’s campaign raised at least $30 million on the race, far more than the $2.8 million Ms. Stratton raised, according to Federal Election Commission data. Ms. Kelly spent about $5 million on her campaign.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi was aided by another $10 million from a super PAC funded by the cryptocurrency industry that attacked Ms. Stratton.
Ms. Stratton’s campaign was buttressed by $12 million from a super PAC funded by Mr. Pritzker, whose effort to elevate Ms. Stratton to the Senate served twin purposes.
A victory could allow him to claim much of the credit for electing a Black woman to the Senate as he aims to increase his national profile before a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Her run for the Senate also allowed Mr. Pritzker to choose a new running mate in Christian Mitchell, a longtime confidant who served as Mr. Pritzker’s deputy governor during his first term in Springfield.
From the beginning of the race, most Illinois Democrats viewed Ms. Kelly as a long shot who could hurt Ms. Stratton’s chances. Though she has an accomplished governing record in Washington, including helping write the first major gun control law in a generation, she had little profile in the state outside her congressional district, which covers a portion of the South Side of Chicago and its suburbs.
Ms. Kelly won support from dozens of members of Congress, including prominent members of the influential Congressional Black Caucus. A week before the primary, Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the longtime Democratic power broker, traveled to Chicago to host events for Ms. Kelly, a move seen as helping split Black voters between her and Ms. Stratton.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Mr. Krishnamoorthi’s allies stepped up their efforts to promote Ms. Kelly in an effort to cleave votes away from Ms. Stratton.
A group called the Indian American Impact Fund bought digital advertising attacking Ms. Stratton and lauding Ms. Kelly. And Fairshake, a cryptocurrency-backed group, blanketed Illinois airwaves with ads bashing Ms. Stratton, an effort that served as revenge for Mr. Pritzker’s threats to regulate the crypto industry in Illinois.
In the general election, Ms. Stratton will face Don Tracy, a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. Mr. Tracy is unlikely to provide more than token opposition, given the state’s Democratic tilt and Mr. Trump’s deep unpopularity there.
Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.
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