Juliana Stratton has won the Illinois Senate seat, defeating Republican Don Tracy in the November 3 election and succeeding retiring Senator Dick Durbin. The Associated Press called the race on election night. Final totals remain unofficial until the state certifies the result.
Stratton has served as the 48th lieutenant governor of Illinois since 2019, working alongside Governor JB Pritzker. Before that she represented the 5th District in the Illinois House of Representatives. She was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and studied at the University of Illinois and at DePaul University College of Law.
Her win carries national history with it. Stratton becomes the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the Senate, following Carol Moseley Braun, and only the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate in United States history.
When she takes her seat in January, Stratton will serve alongside Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. That marks the first time three Black women will serve in the Senate at the same time.
Illinois also makes its own history with this result. When Stratton joins Senator Tammy Duckworth, Illinois becomes the first state represented at the same time by two women of color in the Senate.
Stratton won the Democratic primary in March before winning the general election. Her campaign focused on her record in state government and on carrying Illinois values to Washington. She will begin a six year term with the new Congress in January.
As lieutenant governor, Stratton chaired the Illinois Council on Women and Girls and led the Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative, a statewide effort focused on criminal justice reform and support for communities affected by incarceration. She also worked on maternal health and on expanding access to reproductive health care across Illinois. Her record in state government became the center of her Senate campaign, which argued that Illinois values should shape the work of the Senate. Stratton's victory adds to a historic night for Black women in the midterm elections. Black women won races up and down the ballot on November 3, including governor races in Georgia and Florida and a Senate seat in Illinois, a showing that drew national attention.
