Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the Nov. 3 general election. She faces Republican Don Tracy and American Center candidate Whitfield Harrington Jr.
Stratton won the Democratic primary on March 17 with 40.4% of the vote, or 507,689 votes, defeating U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, among others, as The 19th first reported.
Candidate information
- Party: Democratic
- Born: Sept. 8, 1965, in Chicago
- Raised: Pill Hill neighborhood, Chicago's South Side
- Education: Bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1987); juris doctor, DePaul University (1992)
- Endorsements (claimed by endorsers): Gov. JB Pritzker; U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth; Carol Moseley-Braun; AFL-CIO; Illinois Federation of Teachers; Cook County Democrats; End Citizens United; Personal PAC
Experience and public service
Stratton has served as lieutenant governor of Illinois since 2019. She is the first African-American woman to hold the office, according to Wikipedia. She previously served as a state representative for District 5 in the Illinois House from 2017 to 2019, according to BallotReady.
Before entering elected office, Stratton directed the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2015 to 2017. She served as executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council from 2011 to 2014. She founded JDS Mediation Services in 1997.
On the issues
The following positions are drawn from Stratton's campaign website and candidate questionnaire responses. They reflect the candidate's stated views.
Healthcare and wages: Stratton says she supports securing Medicare for All. She says she supports raising the federal minimum wage and has called for a $25 minimum wage, according to her campaign website.
Taxes and the economy: Stratton says she supports passing a middle-class tax cut paid for by a tax increase on those making more than a million dollars a year. She says she supports investing in grant programs for small business owners.
Education: Stratton says she supports restoring the Department of Education and expanding federal support for trade schools and technical education programs.
Reproductive rights and gun safety: Stratton says she supports restoring the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade and passing gun safety legislation. She says she supports abolishing or significantly reforming the Senate filibuster, arguing the current 60-vote threshold blocks progress on reproductive rights, gun safety and voting rights.
Immigration: Stratton says she supports abolishing ICE, increasing oversight of immigration enforcement and creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers.
Endorsement
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.
This profile is based on Stratton's campaign website and publicly available questionnaire data compiled by BallotReady.
