Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. She faces Republican Don Tracy and American Center candidate Whitfield Harrington Jr.
Stratton won the Democratic primary on March 17, 2026, with 40.4% of the vote, or 507,689 votes, defeating U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, among others, as The 19th reported.
If elected, Stratton would represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate for a six-year term.
Candidate information
- Party: Democratic
- Born: Sept. 8, 1965, in Chicago
- Hometown: Raised in the Pill Hill neighborhood on Chicago's South Side
- Education: Bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1987); juris doctor, DePaul University (1992)
Experience and public service
Stratton has served as lieutenant governor of Illinois since 2019, according to BallotReady. Before that, she represented District 5 in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019. She is the first African American woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Illinois, according to Wikipedia.
Earlier in her career, Stratton served as executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council from 2011 to 2014. She directed the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2015 to 2017. She also founded JDS Mediation Services in 1997 and served as its president.
On the issues
The following positions are drawn from Stratton's campaign website and public statements. They reflect the candidate's own claims.
Healthcare: Stratton says she supports securing Medicare for All.
Economy and wages: Stratton says she supports raising the federal minimum wage and fighting for a $25 minimum wage. She also says she supports investing in grant programs for small business owners. On taxes, she says she supports passing a middle-class tax cut paid for with a tax increase on those making more than a million dollars a year.
Education: Stratton says she supports expanding federal support for trades learning and technical schools. She also says she supports restoring the Department of Education.
Abortion and gun safety: Stratton says she supports restoring the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade and passing gun safety laws.
Immigration: Stratton says she supports creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers, and supports the American DREAM and Promise Act. She also says she supports abolishing ICE and increasing oversight of immigration enforcement.
Endorsements
Juliana Stratton’s listed endorsements include Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth, Elizabeth Warren and Angela Alsobrooks, Gov. JB Pritzker, Rep. Danny K. Davis and former Rep. Bobby Rush. Other named supporters include Illinois legislators Kelly Cassidy, Tracy Katz Muhl and Emanuel Welch, Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
Organizational supporters on the supplied list include the Illinois Nurses Association, National Nurses United, EMILY’s List, End Citizens United and Common Defense Action Fund. The list also includes numerous Sway voting groups and personal voter guides, including North Shore Liberal Moms, Illinois Moms for Change and Western Suburbs Women for Progress. Those entries represent voter-guide recommendations and should be distinguished from formal organizational endorsements.
Candidate positions were drawn from Stratton's campaign website and publicly available responses compiled by BallotReady. The Lake Forest Journal did not interview the candidate for this profile.
