Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton won the state’s open US Senate seat on Tuesday, defeating Republican Don Tracy, according to the Associated Press, which called the race shortly after polls closed.
Stratton, 61, will succeed retiring Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who has represented Illinois in the Senate since 1997. She has served as the state’s lieutenant governor under Governor J.B. Pritzker since 2019.
Her victory makes Illinois the first state to elect two Black women to the US Senate. Carol Moseley Braun, also from Illinois, became the first Black woman ever elected to the chamber in 1992.
Stratton will become the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate. She will serve alongside Delaware Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks, the first time three Black women have served in the chamber at the same time.
Stratton previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives, first elected in 2016, and worked as a mediator before entering politics. She will begin her six-year Senate term in January 2027.
Source: IPM Newsroom
