Only five Black women have ever served in the Senate, and Democrats who are trying to elect a sixth this year in Illinois worry that the chance may be squandered.
The reasons are a classic tale of Chicago politics, with yearslong personal animosity and a refusal by Democratic leaders to coalesce behind a single candidate.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is running to become only the second Indian American senator, has long been seen as the front-runner in the Democratic primary race. But he is facing an increasingly competitive challenge from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is Black and is backed by millions from Gov. JB Pritzker’s personal fortune.
Ms. Stratton’s bid has been complicated by the presence in the race of Representative Robin Kelly, another Black woman, who trails well behind in the limited polls of the contest. Backed by the Congressional Black Caucus, she is viewed as pulling a significant slice of Black voters away from the lieutenant governor.
Groups allied with Mr. Krishnamoorthi, including a powerful super PAC backed by the cryptocurrency industry, have not-so-subtly tried to elevate Ms. Kelly and diminish Ms. Stratton.
Days before the primary race ends on Tuesday, Black political leaders in Chicago are growing more frustrated with the efforts to divide the state’s Black voters.
“I’m sure that Raja is very happy from the fact that there are these two distinguished Black women who will split the Black vote to some degree,” said Representative Danny K. Davis, a veteran Black Democrat in Chicago who is retiring this year after 47 years in elected office and has endorsed Ms. Stratton. “It’s inevitable. There’s no way around it.”
Ms. Stratton’s supporters are openly angry at Ms. Kelly and the Congressional Black Caucus, which typically backs its own members seeking higher office. Caucus members have refused to back down in the face of claims that they are poised to hand a Senate seat to Mr. Krishnamoorthi.
The winner of the primary is likely to wind up in the Senate from deep-blue Illinois. There have been virtually no independent public polls, but surveys from Mr. Krishnamoorthi and groups aligned with Ms. Stratton suggest a tight race between those two, with Ms. Kelly well behind.
Unlike other major Democratic primaries for Senate this year, the contest is not so much a test of the party’s ideological or messaging direction — the three candidates are broadly similar on policy and style — as it is a fight over identity and who deserves a Senate seat.
The evident friendliness between Mr. Krishnamoorthi and Ms. Kelly has only heightened concerns among some Black Democrats.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi has heaped praise on Ms. Kelly as a partner in Congress and was among the first to join her call in January to impeach Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary who was removed last week by President Trump. On Monday, The Chicago Tribune illustrated an article about the campaign’s final debate with a photograph of Mr. Krishnamoorthi and Ms. Kelly shaking hands as Ms. Stratton looked on. Ms. Kelly said in an interview on Wednesday that Mr. Krishnamoorthi was more qualified for the Senate than Ms. Stratton because he had served in the House for nearly a decade.
Super PACs allied with Mr. Krishnamoorthi are certainly happy Ms. Kelly is in the race. The crypto industry, unhappy with Mr. Pritzker’s regulatory efforts as governor, has spent $8 million on ads slamming Ms. Stratton and elevating Ms. Kelly in an attempt to help Mr. Krishnamoorthi.
Black Democrats’ anger about the prospect of Mr. Krishnamoorthi prevailing is being aimed both at the Krishnamoorthi-friendly super PACs propping up Ms. Kelly and at Ms. Kelly herself, for remaining in the race long after she seemed to settle into a distant third place.
But Ms. Kelly, in an interview on Wednesday in Chicago, rejected any suggestion that she and Mr. Krishnamoorthi were working together.
“We’re not conspiring,” she said. “I can guarantee you that.”
Ms. Kelly, who has served in Congress since 2013 and in state government before that, said she would not defer to Ms. Stratton because “I’m much more qualified than she is.”
Ms. Stratton, who was in her lone term in the state legislature when Mr. Pritzker first tapped her to be his running mate in 2018, said in an interview that whatever Ms. Kelly’s intent, the super PAC ads promoting her were meant to achieve a specific outcome — helping Ms. Kelly “not so that she can win, but so that Raja Krishnamoorthi can win.”
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, who is in his fifth term in the House, said he did not believe that he was benefiting from the two Black women in the contest splitting the Black vote.
“I don’t necessarily see individual voters assessing people based on their race. I think they assess them based on who’s best qualified to do the job,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “I’m appealing to every single voter.”
Chicago’s racial politics became a major factor in the Illinois Senate campaign from the moment it began last spring, when Senator Richard J. Durbin, a Democrat, announced that he would not seek a sixth term. Ms. Stratton and Ms. Kelly entered the race and a third Black woman, Representative Lauren Underwood, publicly weighed joining but ultimately declined, with reporting in the Chicago news media suggesting that Mr. Pritzker had discouraged her from running.
Months ago, Ms. Stratton tried to nudge Ms. Kelly aside by declaring the primary a two-way race between her and Mr. Krishnamoorthi. But Ms. Kelly, who has long feuded with Mr. Pritzker, Ms. Stratton’s political patron, has not yielded.
“Listen, I cannot tell Robin Kelly — a current member of Congress, who obviously knows whether or not she can win this race — who am I to say, ‘Get out of the race’? That is not my job to do,” said Minyon Moore, a veteran Democratic National Committee official and a Chicago native who has not endorsed a candidate in the race.
She added that Ms. Kelly had to make a “sophisticated decision” about her chances: “That is a hard decision to make, I’m sure. Some people do it and some people don’t.”
Mr. Pritzker’s influence hangs over the contest. He has campaigned with Ms. Stratton, appeared in her advertisements and is the main funder of a super PAC that has spent $10 million on ads promoting the lieutenant governor and attacking Mr. Krishnamoorthi.
Mr. Pritzker’s cash has arrived even as Ms. Stratton and her supporters bemoan the outside money backing Mr. Krishnamoorthi in the race.
“There’s a lot of outside money, people outside the state, you know, who are trying to push up other candidates because they’ve got some special interest,” Mr. Pritzker, who has spent millions of dollars on races in states across the country, said in a brief interview on Thursday while campaigning with Ms. Stratton. “The interest I’ve got is I need a fighter fighting for us in Washington. That’s Juliana Stratton.”
The governor is widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, and it is no secret that his national ambitions would get a boost from helping elevate a Black woman to the Senate.
Mr. Pritzker and Ms. Kelly do not get along. In 2021, she defeated his chosen candidate to be the Illinois Democratic Party chair. A year later, he successfully maneuvered to have her ousted from the post. She has since done little to mask her dislike for the governor or deny suggestions that her presence in the Senate race might deny Ms. Stratton the nomination.
Representative Yvette Clarke of New York, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, has criticized Mr. Pritzker for trying to hold off Ms. Kelly. Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, perhaps the most influential member of the caucus, came to Chicago on Tuesday to campaign and raise money for Ms. Kelly.
Another super PAC aligned with Mr. Krishnamoorthi, the Indian American Impact Fund, has spent $1 million in ads split between support for Mr. Krishnamoorthi, support for Ms. Kelly and attacking Ms. Stratton.
A digital ad from the group that ran this week in Chicago showed former President Barack Obama, who has deep ties to the city, praising Ms. Kelly as “outstanding.” Mr. Obama has not endorsed a candidate in the primary. A spokeswoman for him declined to comment.
At the same time, Fairshake, the cryptocurrency industry’s main political group, began airing a curious radio ad on Black stations in Chicago. In one breath, it warned that “we can’t trust Juliana Stratton” before declaring that “Barack Obama knows — Robin Kelly always fights for us” after a short clip of Mr. Obama saying her name. The ad noted that the Black caucus had endorsed her.
The tactics have left a trail of disappointment among Black politicians in Chicago.
“It’s very hard to watch,” said Willie Preston, a Democratic state senator who is the chairman of his chamber’s Black caucus. He has remained neutral in the Senate primary while running his own race to replace Ms. Kelly. “If it was not for this dark money coming in and the divide-and-conquer of the Black community, Raja wouldn’t be close. He’s benefiting from intentionally divided Black politics right now.”
Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.
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