Sen. Dick Durbin told NOTUS he has not yet decided whether to run for reelection. But with a potentially vacant seat and no clear successor in the wings, multiple politicians are already mulling bids.
“We are pretty accustomed to bare-knuckle politics around here, so I have no doubt in my mind that an extremely consequential race will result in folks putting everything on the line,” said Tom Bowen, a longtime Illinois political consultant. “And nobody shrinks from conflict around here.”
Durbin is expected to make an announcement soon over whether he’ll run for reelection in 2026. Should he choose to retire, his seat would open up for the first time in nearly three decades. NOTUS asked all 17 members of the Illinois U.S. House delegation if they were interested in the Senate. Five members said yes, and observers expect several other federal and state figures to jump in — making for a far closer race than in 2017, when Sen. Tammy Duckworth was the obvious Democratic frontrunner to take on Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.
Three sources within Democratic politics told NOTUS they think Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who has been in the House since 2017, is gearing up for a Senate bid. As of late November, he had $17 million in cash on hand, the second-highest of any member of the last Congress.
“His quarterly fundraising is like nothing any of us in Illinois have ever seen,” Bowen said.
Krishnamoorthi declined to discuss a potential bid when NOTUS asked whether he hoped to replace Durbin.
“There’s no vacancy, so I can’t really speculate,” Krishnamoorthi said. “I hope he runs for reelection.”
A few of his House colleagues have expressed interest. Multiple sources told NOTUS that Rep. Lauren Underwood is seen as a contender, although she doesn’t have nearly the kind of money that Krishnamoorthi has — about $1.1 million on hand — and has a more restrained media footprint.
Underwood’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but she told The New York Times in August that she wasn’t ruling out an eventual Senate run.
Rep. Robin Kelly, who has about $2 million on hand, is keeping her options open, too. When asked by NOTUS if she’d consider running for the Senate seat, she said, “Yes, I’ll look at it.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez, one of the vice chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told NOTUS she’s also open to a Senate run.
“I would be crazy to say, ‘Absolutely not,’ especially given the impact and the power the senators really have to affect policy,” she said.
At least one Republican also has his eye on a Senate vacancy, although the seat is widely expected to remain Democratic.
Rep. Darin LaHood, one of Illinois’ three House Republicans, told NOTUS he is open to a Senate bid and has $5 million on hand.
“If Trump had lost, I think it would be a good atmosphere in 2026 to run in an open Senate seat,” LaHood said. “We’ll see. I’m not closing the door on anything. I’ve had a lot of people encourage me to think about doing it.”
The other House members said they were happy where they were. Reps. Mike Bost, Sean Casten, Mike Quigley, Jonathan Jackson, Nikki Budzinski, Bill Foster, Brad Schneider, Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis all told NOTUS they’re not interested in running for the Senate. Rep. Mary Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
A handful of statewide officeholders are similarly exploring their options, although sources say the upcoming races for governor — it’s not clear if Gov. JB Pritzker will seek a third term — and Chicago mayor might add to their considerations.
Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois’ secretary of state who ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign in 2010, and Juliana Stratton, the state’s lieutenant governor, are the most likely to run for the Senate, two sources told NOTUS. Stratton reportedly commissioned a poll regarding her statewide profile and Durbin’s popularity.
Michael Frerichs, Illinois’ state treasurer, has also been discussed as a potential Senate candidate. Frerichs told NOTUS in a statement that he was respecting Durbin’s timing on an announcement. Giannoulias and Stratton did not respond to requests for comment.
Pritzker could make a run for the Senate, potentially clearing the field given his funds and high name identification. At least, that’s what former Illinois state Senate president John Cullerton, a Pritzker ally, told NOTUS. Cullerton — who said he hadn’t spoken to either Durbin or Pritzker about their political futures — speculated that Pritzker might be interested in the Senate ahead of a 2028 presidential run. Though Pritzker is deep-pocketed and well-liked in certain Illinois circles, his approval rating was 44% last spring.
“He might decide he would prefer to be a U.S. senator to help him run for president, in which case, if he decided to do that, no one would run against him in a primary,” Cullerton said.
Pritzker’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Rahm Emanuel, the former congressman and mayor of Chicago-turned-ambassador, is also weighing his future. Some think he could get in the Senate race.
But Bowen, who used to work for Emanuel, was less convinced he’s eyeing the role.
“The former mayor and ambassador would do a great job at anything he puts his mind to,” Bowen said. “But I do not believe that his legendary patience is well suited for the U.S. Senate. And I think he would say that too.”
These are all very different types of Democrats. The question remains about what profile might be most palatable to voters after decades of Durbin, the longest-serving party whip in Senate history and a strong advocate of immigration reform and tobacco industry regulation.
Rep. Chuy García, Congressional Progressive Caucus whip, told NOTUS he’s not interested in the Senate but is hoping Durbin’s successor will “continue his posture of progressivism … and probably ratchet things up a little bit more, too.”
Other than ideology, another factor that may determine a new senator’s profile is geography. Illinois has a historical precedent of electing one senator from Chicagoland and one from downstate. Duckworth lives in Chicagoland, and some hope that Durbin’s successor represents another part of the state.
“I feel like there are some people downstate that kind of feel forgotten a lot of times,” Rep. Eric Sorensen, who said he does not plan to run for the post, told NOTUS. “And so I hope that whoever succeeds Dick Durbin, after his retirement, that it’s gonna be somebody who looks after downstate.”
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Helen Huiskes is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.