Illinois voters will cast their ballots in primary contests this week, with Democrats selecting the likely successor to retiring Sen. Dick Durbin.
A handful of other closely watched House races — including in the 9th District seat held by retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky — will also host competitive Democratic primaries Tuesday.
Durbin, who as Democratic whip is the second-highest-ranking senator in the party, announced last year that he wouldn’t run for a sixth term. The state is reliably Democratic, so the primary winner is nearly guaranteed to win the November general election.
The race is effectively a three-way competition among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Robin Kelly. Most recent polls show Krishnamoorthi in the lead, including a January survey from Emerson College and Nexstar that had him 22 percentage points ahead of Stratton.
