Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton of Illinois, a progressive former state lawmaker and daughter of Chicago’s South Side, is one of three leading contenders in the state’s Democratic primary for Senate on Tuesday.
Here are five things to know about Ms. Stratton, 60, of the Bronzeville section of Chicago.
1. She ascended to the State Legislature with an endorsement from Barack Obama. Ms. Stratton came to politics relatively late, having served as an administrative judge in Chicago and led a watchdog group that monitored juvenile court. But in 2016, she decided to run for the Illinois House of Representatives, challenging a Democratic incumbent aligned with the governor at the time, Bruce Rauner, a centrist Republican. A week before the primary, she received a major, and highly unusual, expression of support from Mr. Obama, then the president. “The people of Chicago deserves leaders who follow through,” Mr. Obama said in an ad for Ms. Stratton. “Juliana Stratton has spent her career serving our community.”
2. She is a close ally of JB Pritzker, the state’s Democratic governor. Governors and their lieutenants do not always get along. But Mr. Pritzker has maintained a strong relationship with Ms. Stratton, who has been at his side ever since he chose her in 2017 as his running mate in his first run for governor. He has called her his “good friend.” Now Mr. Pritzker, a billionaire widely seen as a potential presidential contender in 2028, has spent heavily to support her run for Senate.
3. She has argued that ICE should be abolished. As Democrats have debated how to respond to the Trump administration’s far-reaching deportation effort, Ms. Stratton and her rival Raja Krishnamoorthi, a congressman, have been slightly at odds: Ms. Stratton has embraced the slogan “abolish ICE.” Mr. Krishnamoorthi has not gone so far, instead opting for “abolish Trump’s ICE.”
4. She has a rivalry with Representative Robin Kelly. Ms. Kelly is also running for the Senate seat but has been polling in a distant third place. She has attacked Ms. Stratton, saying that Mr. Krishnamoorthi, who leads in many polls, is more qualified because he has served in the House for nearly a decade. Ms. Stratton has said she may not be the candidate for voters content with Congress. “Sitting in Congress for a decade doesn’t make you qualified,” Allison Janowski, a spokeswoman for Ms. Stratton, said in a statement. “But listening to voters, delivering for voters, and meeting the urgency of this moment does.” Some Democrats are concerned that Ms. Stratton and Ms. Kelly, who are both Black, might split the Black vote, preventing one of them from becoming the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate .
5. She has stiff-armed Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. Ms. Stratton has stood out in the field by saying she would not back Mr. Schumer as Democratic leader. “I’m the only person on this stage that has said so,” she noted during a debate.
The post 5 Things to Know About Juliana Stratton appeared first on New York Times.
