<span class="field field–name-title field–type-string field–label-hidden">Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on Her US Senate Campaign, Health Care Funding and Raising Minimum Wage</span>
<span class="field field–name-uid field–type-entity-reference field–label-hidden"><span>Shelby Hawkins</span></span>
<span class="field field–name-created field–type-created field–label-hidden"><time datetime="2026-04-06T19:15:00-05:00" title="Monday, April 6, 2026 – 19:15" class="datetime">Mon, 04/06/2026 – 19:15</time>
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<div class="clearfix text-formatted field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden field__item"><p>Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton was victorious in the March 17 primary election, making her the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and pushing her closer to possibly taking over longtime U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat. Stratton faces former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy in the Nov. 3 general election.</p>
<p>If she wins, Stratton will be the sixth Black woman to serve as a U.S. senator and the second from Illinois.</p>
<p>Stratton joined “Chicago Tonight” to discuss her vision for Illinois and the country.</p>
<p><strong>On why her message resonated with voters:</strong></p>
<p>“What I heard every single day on the campaign trail is that people were frustrated with what was happening in Washington. They felt that there was too much of a sort of ‘go along to get along’ mentality, and what I heard from people when I asked what they were looking for in their next United States senator is, ‘I’m looking for someone who will go to the mat fighting for me, who will stand up and hold this president accountable,’ as we are watching him systematically attempt to dismantle our democracy. So this is the message that has resonated. It broke through with voters, and I’m proud that they heard what I had to say, and they know that I’ll be the fighter for them in Washington.”</p>
<p><strong>On the war in Iran: </strong></p>
<p>At a news conference Monday, President Donald Trump was asked about the status of American involvement in Iran. He said: “We’ll see what happens. I can tell you they’re negotiating, we think in good faith — we’re going to find out. We’re giving them until tomorrow, 8 o’clock Eastern time, and after that they’re going to have no bridges, no powerplants, stone ages, yeah.”</p>
<p>Stratton is not in favor of the war, saying Trump pursued war actions “without any plan, without any clarity around why he was doing so. Look what we’re seeing right now. We are seeing the American people having to foot the bill. He wants more money for it. We even see his request for $1.5 trillion in military budget, and this is not what anyone asked for. We need to make sure that we are holding this president accountable. People are asking for health care. People want their grocery prices to go down, and that’s what this president campaigned on. He’s doing the exact opposite.”</p>
<p><strong>On health care access:</strong></p>
<p>“Health care has always been a priority for me. It’s something that I’m going to fight for. I believe that we need to pass ‘Medicare for All.’ I believe everyone who needs a doctor should be able to get access to one. We’re certainly seeing in our rural communities, for example, where potentially nine safety net hospitals could close, critical-access hospitals. This is a crisis and I’m going to fight for health care because I believe it’s a right and not a privilege.</p>
<p>“Look at what we’ve done here in Illinois where we’ve expanded access to health care. We’ve made health care more affordable. We’ve lowered the cost of prescription drugs. We’ve eliminated over $1 billion in medical debt, and I personally led the birth equity initiative to make sure that we address the Black maternal mortality crisis. We have to prioritize and make sure that our priorities reflect what our values are. My value is that people have access to health care. We have to find a way to do it, and we have to look at what this president currently is doing and the kinds of things that he wants to fund that is not about giving people access to health care, but he wants to drag us into another war. So I think that this is an example of when people want to find money and have the political will for what they want, then they do it.”</p>
<p><strong>On the partial government shutdown:</strong></p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not received funding in more than 50 days, making it the longest government shutdown in history. </p>
<p>“They’re (lawmakers) at a standstill, and Democrats have held firm, and they’ve said that there are some demands that we are making, and I believe that they should hold firm and make sure that they’re not continuing to fund ICE or CBP and making sure that we do get the funding for TSA, FEMA, and the things that people need. That has not been something that the Republicans have demonstrated that has been a priority for them. We’ve seen them slow-walking this agreement, but they need to get to a point, and now the ball is in the Republicans’ court. They’re the ones that are holding up funding for TSA, for FEMA, for our federal workers, and they need to call session. Speaker Johnson needs to call session back and get this vote over the finish line.”</p>
<p><strong>On the federal minimum wage:</strong></p>
<p>Stratton proposes raising the federal minimum wage to $25 per hour. It’s been $7.25 per hour since 2009.</p>
<p>“What we cannot do is just tell people that it’s OK for them to have to work two and three jobs to try to just make ends meet. In Illinois, I’m proud of our work to raise it to $15 an hour. That’s $31,200 a year. So there are people that deserve, I believe, working families that we have to stand up for to make sure that they can put money in their pockets, save a little, spend a little in our small businesses. The way that we will do this is by bringing all of the stakeholders to the table, making sure we are saying, ‘What is most important? How can we make this work?’ Just like any piece of legislation. But what’s not OK is saying that it’s OK for people to just barely make ends meet or have to work two and three jobs just to help feed their children.”</p>
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April 6, 2026 at 07:31PM
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