Juliana Stratton

Juliana Stratton is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Illinois and the state's sitting Lieutenant Governor. A mediator and attorney who led criminal justice policy work in Cook County, she served one term in the Illinois House before being elected lieutenant governor alongside J.B. Pritzker in 2018.[2][3] She won the March 17, 2026 Democratic primary for the seat Dick Durbin is leaving, with 40.4% of the vote.[1][2]

Stratton was born in Chicago on September 8, 1965, and raised in the Pill Hill neighborhood on the city's South Side.[3][4] Her first elected office was parent representative and then chair of the Kenwood Academy Local School Council.[3] She attended Kenwood Academy.[4] She earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1987 and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1992.[2] She worked as a video producer for the city of Chicago and then as an attorney.[4] In 1997 she founded JDS Mediation Services, and she served as an arbitrator and administrative law judge for several City of Chicago agencies.[2][4] She taught conflict management and negotiation skills at Loyola University Chicago, and she was executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council from 2011 to 2014 and director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2015 to 2017.[2][4] Her office describes her as an experienced mediator, arbitrator, restorative justice practitioner and trained peace circle keeper.[3]

Stratton won the 2016 Democratic primary for the Illinois House's 5th District, defeating incumbent Ken Dunkin with 68.0% of the vote, and served in the House from 2017 to 2019.[2][4] Pritzker announced her in August 2017 as his running mate, and in 2018 she won the general election with 54.5% of the vote; she took office on January 14, 2019, as the state's 48th lieutenant governor.[2][3][4] She and Pritzker were re-elected in 2022, when she received 54.9%.[2] She is a past chair of the National Lieutenant Governor's Association, and her office lists the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity initiative among her priorities.[3] According to Wikipedia, she launched the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative and chairs the Illinois Council on Women and Girls and several other state councils.[4]

Durbin announced his retirement on April 23, 2025, and Stratton was among the Democrats who declared for the open seat; Pritzker endorsed her.[1] In the March 17, 2026 primary she defeated U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (32.7%) and Robin Kelly (18.3%) and others.[2] She campaigned on her record in state government, and said during the primary that she supported Medicare for All, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and a federal version of Illinois' Birth Equity Initiative.[1] Her office says she lives in Bronzeville with her husband, Bryan, and their four daughters.[3]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.