ILLINOIS — Juliana Stratton won the Illinois Democratic U.S. Senate primary on March 17, 2026, receiving 40 percent of the vote. Raja Krishnamoorthi finished seven percentage points behind Stratton.

Stratton announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2025 after Senator Dick Durbin announced his retirement. Governor JB Pritzker endorsed Stratton shortly after she announced her candidacy.

Pritzker donated at least $5 million to Illinois Future PAC, which served as the financial engine backing Stratton. The super PAC spent a total of $14.8 million on television advertisements.

Quentin Fulks, head of Illinois Future PAC, led the main super PAC backing Stratton. Fulks helped run Governor JB Pritzker's 2018 gubernatorial campaign and served as principal deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign.

The pro-Stratton super PAC aired a television advertisement promoting Stratton as the only major candidate seeking to get rid of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Stratton called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly took more nuanced positions on the agency.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducted enforcement operations across Chicago and its suburbs for several months in fall 2025. Research found low approval of Immigration and Customs Enforcement among Illinois Democrats in the state.

"For Juliana and the issues she was championing, that was by far the most potent issue," said Quentin Fulks, head of Illinois Future PAC. "We beat them to the punch on that issue. The PAC went up first."

Raja Krishnamoorthi began airing television advertisements in the Senate primary race in summer 2025. Krishnamoorthi led in fundraising for months prior to January 2026, and his campaign spending exceeded Illinois Future PAC's $14.8 million in ad spending.

A January 2026 poll showed Stratton trailing Krishnamoorthi by 21 percentage points. The January 2026 poll showed 46 percent of potential Democratic voters were undecided.

Internal research by Illinois Future PAC indicated that having Governor Pritzker's backing influenced Illinois Democratic voters. A WGN/Emerson poll published in early January 2026 found that 82 percent of Illinois Democrats surveyed approved of Governor Pritzker while 90 percent disapproved of President Trump.

Stratton advocated for a $25 per hour minimum wage during the campaign.