The Illinois Senate race is the only one this cycle in which two Black women elected officials are running against each other. 

But there’s no guarantee that either Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton or  Rep. Robin Kelly will emerge victorious from next week’s Democratic primary. Polling has sometimes shown Stratton leading — or often trailing — Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is also vying to replace longtime Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin in the upper chamber. Kelly has been consistently polling in the low teens. 

If neither Stratton nor Kelly wins Tuesday, there’s likely no other path this cycle to set a new record for the number of Black women serving in the Senate at once.

The unique three-way race disrupts questions about whether Black women are less “electable,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Though some find it unfortunate that there are campaigns with multiple Black women candidates and many others with none, that logic is also a symptom of women being told to wait, she said.

“The more that we see women run, we’re going to see them run against each other,” Dittmar said. “It serves as a reminder that we have a pool of very qualified Black women that are more than capable of running and winning and serving in these offices.”

Stratton pointed to her initiatives to improve maternal health outcomes and foster girls’ political participation as examples of how representation led to direct change for women in the state. But she also named her father, who grew up in rural Pennsylvania and was barred from visiting the U.S. Capitol as a teenager, as a motivation for running for Senate.

“He wasn’t allowed to because of the color of his skin,” she told The 19th. “This is not my great-grandfather, it’s not my grandfather, this is my father. Now his daughter is running to work in and serve the people in that very same building that he was not allowed to visit as a high school student. It’s the only chance in the country to elect a Black woman. I’m really proud I have the best path to do so.”

A spokeswoman for Kelly’s campaign told The 19th that the congresswoman “isn’t running to make history, but to make life better and more affordable for Illinoisians.”

Just five Black women have served in the Senate, including former Vice President Kamala Harris of California. When Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland won their 2024 campaigns, they became the first Black women to serve simultaneously.

Illinois was the first state to elect a Black woman to the Senate, sending Carol Moseley-Braun in 1992. Both Moseley-Braun and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, first elected in 2016 and the only other woman ever elected to the Senate from Illinois, have endorsed Stratton. The winner of the primary in this deep blue state is all but certain to win the Senate seat. 

The only other chance this cycle to send a Black woman to the Senate came with Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Texas, who lost the Democratic primary last week to state Rep. James Talarico.

How Stratton, Kelly aim to distinguish themselves

While Krishnamoorthi has embraced more moderate stances, Stratton and Kelly have similarly progressive electoral profiles, including supporting Medicare for All and bolstering national education plans. After a heavily publicized crackdown in Chicago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year, both candidates — particularly Stratton, who has called to abolish the agency — have latched onto the citywide anger. National conversations about Israel’s war in Gaza have also permeated the race, with Kelly calling the conflict a “genocide.”

Krishnamoorthi — who would be the state’s first South Asian senator — jumped into the race first and that helped him become an early front-runner. He has been advertising for the longest period of the candidates and holds a massive fundraising advantage, with a war chest of over $28 million, including transfers from his House campaign committee.

“It just shows you the power of being on television unopposed for, you know, five months,” Frank Calabrese, a Democratic political consultant in Chicago, said of his initial momentum.

But Stratton has recently been boosted in advertising and support by the state’s governor, J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker himself has fairly high support among Black voters, Calabrese said, which could help Stratton carve out a path against Kelly and Krishnamoorthi as well.

Krishnamoorthi told The New York Times he did not believe he was benefiting from a potential vote split between the race’s two Black candidates, saying he believes voters are not assessing the contenders based on race, but who is best qualified for the role.

As with other major Illinois congressional races this cycle, super PAC money has proliferated throughout the campaign. The bulk of it has gone to boost Krishnamoorthi and Kelly over Stratton — a now-common move from campaigns in crowded fields that aims to boost a third-place candidate to eat into one of the front-runner’s bases. Several organizations poured millions of dollars in the last weeks of the race into digital and mail campaigns, and the final days have been largely defined by money squabbles among the candidates.

“Congressman Krishnamoorthi is clearly someone who can be bought and paid for,” Stratton said, noting that she has taken a stance of not accepting corporate PAC money. “They’re concerned about their bottom line, and they want to make sure the wealthy get wealthier. I’m going to fight for the people, and they know that, and therefore, they’re coming out against me.”

Kelly rejected the suggestion that she and Krishnamoorthi were working together, telling The New York Times she would not defer to Stratton. “I’m much more qualified than she is,” Kelly said. She similarly said Krishnamoorthi’s time in the House made him more qualified than Stratton.

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) also got involved in the last weeks of the race, blasting Pritzker — a potential 2028 presidential hopeful — for boosting his lieutenant governor’s campaign. Members of the caucus across both chambers have split in backing either Kelly or Stratton.

“Governor Pritzker’s effort to tip the scales in Illinois’ U.S. Senate race is beyond frustrating for the Congressional Black Caucus,” chair Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “A sitting governor shouldn’t be heavy-handing the race. Quite frankly, his behavior in this race won’t soon be forgotten by any of us.”

Pritzker’s level of financial involvement is more rare than the endorsement of his No. 2 itself, though it was unsurprising the governor tapped into his vast personal funds to spend millions on Stratton’s campaign. Pritzker also has a fraught history with Kelly: He and other influential state powers pushed to unseat her as chair of the Illinois Democratic Party in 2022, citing an inability to fundraise.

The CBC statement reverberated throughout local politics. The Illinois governor responded to the criticism by reaffirming that he would like a Black woman to represent the state, adding that his track record proves he stands with communities and candidates of color.

“I just want the best person. She happens to be a Black woman,” Pritzker said at a news conference. 

Stratton told The 19th she was disappointed to see the comments, adding that she strongly believes in the CBC’s mission to grow the Black caucus — a group she hopes to join next January. 

Dittmar said that normally, one of the obstacles for Black women is that the country’s influential donor base is dominated by White men. Pritzker’s boosting of Stratton somewhat validates that argument, she said, especially as a popular governor among the state’s fundraising class.

“A lot of these Black women [candidates] are not in competitive races, so they’re raising less, in part, because this is not a priority race for donors,” Dittmar said. 

She added that Kelly similarly has a wider network than some other candidates due to her past as Illinois Democratic Party chair, though her spread isn’t as vast as Stratton’s.

“This race gives us a test to see if and where and how there might be differences,” Dittmar said. “Stratton has access to money networks in large part due to this Pritzker endorsement and connection, and so that can basically push back against what we would expect to be a disadvantage potentially.”