Juliana Stratton

Stratton was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and DePaul University’s College of Law.⁠[1]

Stratton started a consulting firm focused on alternative dispute resolution, working as a mediator, arbitrator and administrative law judge for government agencies. She served as director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois Chicago, executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, and a deputy hearing commissioner for the City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection.⁠[1]

She is a restorative justice practitioner and trained peace circle keeper, was a founding board member of the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center and served on the board of directors of the Juvenile Protective Association. Her first elected office was chair of the Kenwood Academy Local School Council.⁠[1]

Stratton represented the 5th District in the Illinois House of Representatives and had served less than a full term when JB PritzkerJB PritzkerJB Pritzker, full name Jay Robert Pritzker, is a Democratic politician, investor and philanthropist who serves as the 43rd governor of Illinois. He was elected in 2018, took office in 2019 and was re-elected in 2022 and 2026. Born into the family that founded Hyatt Hotels, he co-founded and managed Pritzker Group with his brother and has helped promote startup incubation in Chicago and education philanthropy. His policies as governor have covered labor standards, taxation, and the regulation of digital assets and artificial intelligence.Open the full entry picked her as his running mate in 2018. She was then twice elected as Pritzker’s running mate, becoming Illinois’s 48th lieutenant governor.⁠[1][2][3]

As lieutenant governor she leads the Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative and chairs the Illinois Council on Women and Girls, the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council, the Military Economic Development Council and the Illinois River Coordinating Council, and she serves on the Executive Committee of the National Lieutenant Governors Association as Midwest member-at-large.⁠[1]

On March 17, 2026, Stratton won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Senator Dick Durbin, defeating U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly. The Associated Press called the race for her at 9:40 p.m.; with 82% of precincts reporting she had 39.6%, Krishnamoorthi 33.6% and Kelly 18.5%.⁠[4]

She entered the primary with Governor Pritzker’s endorsement, and a Pritzker-funded super PAC, Illinois Future PAC, backed her campaign; she pledged not to accept donations from corporate PACs. On the campaign trail she said, “I made a promise to Illinois to be the fighter you deserve.”⁠[4]

Stratton was the only candidate in the Democratic primary who fully backed abolishing ICEICEICE (Intercontinental Exchange) is a US financial-market infrastructure company founded in 2000. It operates exchanges and clearing services, fixed-income and data businesses, and mortgage technology. Its businesses include the New York Stock Exchange; founder Jeffrey Sprecher is chair and CEO.Open the full entry, calling for a new agency outside the Department of Homeland Security, and she said she would not support Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader. She said she would fight President Trump’s policies, expand access to health care and pursue a path to citizenship for Dreamers and DACA recipients, continuing Durbin’s “unfinished business.” She had $1.1 million in cash on hand at the end of June 2026.⁠[5][2]

She also said she supports Medicare for All, proposed raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 an hour, and proposed a middle-income tax cut funded by higher taxes on people earning at least $1 million a year; she opposed President Trump’s tariff policy and the war with Iran and said she would not vote for supplemental war funding.⁠[2]

At 8:00 p.m. EST on November 3, 2026, the Associated Press declared Stratton the winner of Illinois’s U.S. Senate race over Republican Don Tracy, a former Illinois Republican Party chairman. At 10 p.m., with 73% of votes counted, she had 61%, Tracy 37% and independent Whitfield Harrington 1.6%; Tracy called her that night to congratulate her.⁠[3][2]

Stratton will be the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, after Carol Moseley Braun.⁠[2][3]