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.