CHICAGO — Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, edging out two sitting members of the U.S. House. in a race that will see her facing Republican Don Tracy in November, if unofficial results hold.

The retirement of longtime Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who was first elected in 1997, triggered a competitive campaign, drawing 10 Democratic and six Republican candidates.

Furious fundraising and sharp elbows marked the race, which tested the influence of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire whose name has been floated as a 2028 presidential contender. He supported Stratton over U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly.

The race to replace U.S. Sen Dick Durbin is shaping up in Illinois after Don Tracy won the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s primary. The former chairman of the state Republican Party was among the best-known in the six-candidate race.

The retirement of the Senate’s longtime No. 2 Democrat triggered a competitive campaign on the Democratic side, drawing as candidates U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, among others.

Furious fundraising and sharp elbows marked the race, which tested the influence of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, whose name has been floated as a 2028 presidential contender. He backed Stratton.

In the Republican Senate primary, Tuesday’s winner was Don Tracy, former state Republican Party chairman.

From questions about the cryptocurrency and AI industries to immigration enforcement to fracturing U.S. support for Israel, the state’s voters confronted such issues as super PACS poured in millions of dollars into hotly contested races.

A spate of House retirements led to open seats with crowded contests across the Chicago area where the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and PACs supporting the cryptocurrency and AI industries spent big on several contests. Most primary winners in the Democratic stronghold are expected to win in November, shaping a new generation of leadership in the state’s congressional delegation.

3 top Democrats run to replace Durbin

Ten Democrats and six Republicans ran for the seat after Durbin announced his retirement after five terms.

Tracy is an attorney who led the Illinois Republican Party from 2021 to 2024. The state last had a Republican in the Senate a decade ago, when Mark Kirk was defeated by current Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

The three leading Democrats in the primary were Chicago-area U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.

Krishnamoorthi dominated fundraising and the airwaves, and was the first on television with ads in July. He started 2026 with over $15 million on hand after spending more than $6 million and raising more than $3.5 million in the final three months of last year, according to campaign finance records.

By comparison, Stratton started the year with $1 million after raising about the same amount and spending just under $1 million in the last three months of 2025. But last month Pritzker put $5 million in a super PAC largely aimed at helping get her elected.

She campaigned on Pritzker’s endorsement and lit into Krishnamoorthi at debates, particularly on the five-term Democrat’s voting record and donations from a contractor tied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“That is not the example of somebody who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump and fight for all of our communities,” Stratton said during a debate January. “I want to abolish ICE.”

Krishnamoorthi, who has called to dismantle ICE, said he donated the money to immigrant rights groups. He argued that Stratton zeroed in on him because she “didn’t have any policy ideas. She had to attack.”

Rochelle Brockenborough, 64, said she voted for Stratton at the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Service Center in Chicago.

“I wanted to make sure there was no AIPAC money. That’s important to me,” she said, adding that U.S. tax dollars shouldn’t be used to support Israel.

Meanwhile Kelly took issue with Pritzker’s involvement, arguing that a sitting governor should not interfere.

Shana Sumers, 36, said she voted for Kelly to support marginalized communities, such as transgender people. She also called the Iran war “a big distraction.”

“We really need to be able to afford housing, afford health care, afford to go to the grocery store,” Sumers said.

Candidates touted ties to iconic Chicagoans including President Barack Obama and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died last month. However, an endorsement touted posthumously by Stratton caused a snag as Jackson’s family withdrew it Monday, saying the draft was not meant for public release.

Election officials hoped to see busy polls after statewide turnout in the 2024 primary was 19%, the lowest in more than five decades.

Among issues reported Tuesday were complaints that poll workers in Madison County asked voters to show ID, drawing attention from the local elections office and the state attorney general. Officials in the southern Illinois county said the issue in one precinct was resolved. Showing an ID at a polling place is not required in Illinois.

Tracy bested five other candidates in the GOP’s Senate primary. Illinois last had a Republican in the Senate a decade ago, when Mark Kirk was defeated by current Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

Associated Press journalists Mike Householder in Chicago and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.