Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton will be the state's new U.S. senator, CBS News projects.
CBS News projects that Stratton has defeated former Illinois GOP chairman Don Tracy to replace Dick Durbin in the Senate.
Stratton will be just the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the Senate, following Carol Moseley Braun.
When Durbin announced last April that he would not run for reelection to the Senate, it opened up a seat that had been filled for nearly 30 years. Durbin has served as the U.S. Senator for Illinois since 1997.
Stratton has served as Gov. JB Pritzker's lieutenant governor since he was first elected in 2018. Before that, she served one term as a member of the Illinois State House.
She told supporters that she vows to be a voice for the people who are sending her to Washington, and won't back down from President Donald Trump.
"You see, true Democracy is not about Donald Trump. It's not about Congress. It's not any one politician, one political party, or one seat in the Senate. Democracy isn't something we sit back and watch. democracy is something we do. it's something we build, brick by brick, conversation by conversation, neighbor by neighbor," Stratton said.
Former President Barack Obama endorsed Stratton in October. It was not the former president's first time throwing his weight behind Stratton; in 2016, while sitting president, he made a rare endorsement of her in her State House run to represent Hyde Park.
Stratton is promising a progressive agenda, including raising the federal minimum wage, affordable healthcare and reproductive freedom.
Durbin was also present at the victory party at Chicago's Ramova Theater in Bridgeport to congratulate Stratton on her win.
Tracy is an attorney and the former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. He said during his campaign he'd fight for Illinois in Washington without being a "rubber stamp" for either party, and that his priorities include reducing government spending, affordable energy, lowering drug and insurance prices and securing the border.
