There promises to be nothing boring about the Illinois race to replace U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who will retire in 2027 after 30 years in office.

With no other Democratic candidates announcing campaigns for the 2026 primary by Monday morning, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton secured the endorsement of two of the state’s top Democrats before fielding any competition.

Just one day into her campaign to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin in the U.S. Senate, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on Friday received a key endorsement from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, nearly eight years after he first tapped her to be his running mate.

“For too long, the middle class has been centered on the campaign trail but sidelined when it comes to real governance,” newly announced U.S. Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said.

Illinois is facing challenges in the still early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, and the state is pushing back. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton joined “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” to talk more about the state’s response.

With Vice President Kamala Harris conceding the race for the White House, Illinois Democrats who’d served as surrogates for her on the campaign trail weighed in for the first time on her loss.

“As the mother of four daughters that I thought would have more rights than me, not fewer,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said, “I’m devastated to this day that Trump’s Supreme Court found a way to relegate us to second-class citizens.”

The law requires insurers that provide state-regulated health care plans to cover pregnancy and postpartum services for covered individuals, including midwife services, doula visits, and lactation consultants for up to 12 months after the end of a pregnancy.

In the middle of Mental Health Awareness Month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton hosted a panel in Springfield at which he pledged to expand the state’s behavioral health services.

The nonprofit Chicago South Side Birth Center will mark the city’s second active midwife-led birth center, but the first for the South Side. Advocates say the Black-led center offers safe birthing alternatives in a medically underserved area of the city. 

Come next year, a new law will mandate nearly all Illinois employers give their workers a minimum of five paid days off, for any reason.

A major part of a $1.2 billion multi-pronged state tax relief program will be disbursed to 6 million Illinois households starting Monday through the next six to eight weeks. The amount you’ll get back depends on factors such as income, family size and home value.

Illinois is on track to move into phase four of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan on Friday, but the state faces a huge challenge in reviving its pandemic-stricken economy and putting people back to work.

On the heels of the Iowa caucuses debacle, Illinois leaders are trying to rally support for the state to hold the first presidential primary in 2024. But is that a good idea?

The just-completed spring legislative session produced a slew of initiatives championed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration. What Illinoisans can expect from those initiatives, the new state budget and more.

“We need to lift up your voices, we need to bring people together to move our state forward,” says Juliana Stratton. Learn more about this candidate.