1 week Ago
Apres moi, le deluge. That’s one way U.S.
Sen. Dick Durbin could have framed his announcement this week that he’s retiring after spending a lifetime in politics. Instead, the octogenarian acknowledged that “it’s time to pass the torch” and that he won’t be running for a sixth term in 2026.
But who among the “Johnstown Flood” of wannabe successors will capture it? That issue won’t be resolved until the March 2026 primary election and the November 2026 general election. In the meantime, a small army of Democrats are positioning themselves for the run. Even a member of the moribund Illinois Republican Party — Peoria U.
S. Rep. Darin LaHood — indicated interest.
From the outside looking in, a GOP candidate would appear to be the political equivalent of a kamikaze pilot in this reflexively Democratic state. Perhaps that’s why another Republican, former state Rep. Tom Demmer, issued a statement that parodied candidates’ expressions of interest.
“Following today’s announcement from Sen. Durbin, I’m preparing to have conversations to consider the potential formation of a tentative exploratory committee to look in to the possibility of floating my candidacy. I hope to have potential decisions narrowed down sometime within the next 12-24 months.
Get ready to stay tuned,” Demmer tweeted. Most of the higher-profile Democrats have not been so reticent. “There are at least a dozen names that I think are serious,” Durbin told a Chicago news outlet.
One, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, announced that she is running immediately after Durbin said that he isn’t.
She added some underwhelming political icing on her announcement cake by disclosing that she’s been endorsed by the Democratic Lieutenant Governor’s Association. Although he’s still being coy about an official announcement, U.S.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi began what he called a “statewide” political campaign tour Thursday to denounce President Trump’s tariff policies. Three Chicago-area members of the U.
S. House — Krishnamoorthi, Robin Kelly and Lauren Underwood — also want Durbin’s job. Then there’s former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who could get in.
One formerly local name also popped up: state Treasurer and newly minted Chicagoan Michael Frerichs. WBEZ reported that Frerichs is “expected to jump into the race.” The former Gifford resident indirectly confirmed his interest in escaping his incarceration in the treasurer’s office, a post he has held since 2015.
‘I am considering how I can continue to best serve the people of Illinois. As part of that, I am having conversations with my family,” he said in a Facebook post. In the meantime, Frerichs said he will continue to oppose the “Trump chaos in Washington” and support legal abortion and working families.
The importance of Durbin’s announcement that he’s stepping aside cannot be minimized. As CapitalFax writer Rich Miller noted, it will usher in a generational change in the state’s political scene. When candidates already holding office, such as Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, Stratton and Frerichs, join the race for Durbin’s seat, a handful of other wannabes will seek those positions.
It can be a brutal game of moving up the political ladder or out of public office altogether, a nightmare scenario for the politically ambitious. Gov. J.
B. Pritzker, like Durbin, also could opt out of running for re-election in 2026 in order to focus his energy on a 2028 campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. In that unlikely event, political chaos and frenetic campaigning will become the order of the day for the next 18 months.
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