Illinois Primary Results: Democrats Nominate Likely New Members
March 18, 2026 · 12:36 PM EDT
Voters in Illinois headed to the polls Tuesday to choose their nominees for the open Senate seat vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin and a slew of open House seats. Both the Senate seat and the four open House districts are rated Solid Democratic, so the winners of the Democratic primaries will almost certainly be in Congress next year.
All of the races saw significant spending from outside groups, most notably from a network of super PACs aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-cryptocurrency group Fairshake, and the pro-AI group Leading the Future, which combined to spend at least $35 million on advertising.
Senate.
Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton completed a stunning come-from-behind victory over Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi in the Democratic primary, winning 40-33 percent and clearing her path to becoming the fifth Black woman elected to the Senate. Krishnamoorthi outspent Stratton nearly 10-to-1; his TV ads, which began last year, gave him an early polling lead which he did not give up until mid-February, when a pro-Stratton super PAC funded by Gov. JB Pritzker began advertising on her behalf. A $10 million anti-Stratton push from cryptocurrency group Fairshake couldn’t blunt her momentum. Rep. Robin Kelly finished third with 18 percent. Republicans nominated former state party chairman Don Tracy. Solid Democratic.
2nd District.
Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller won a comfortable 40-29 percent victory over former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Robin Kelly. Miller was backed by millions of dollars in advertising from a group tied to pro-Israel AIPAC, while Jackson, who previously held this seat before resigning and serving federal prison time, was back by pro-cryptocurrency and pro-AI interests. State Sen. Robert Peters was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressive leaders but placed a distant third with 12 percent. Solid Democratic.
7th District.
Retiring Rep. Danny Davis saw his chosen successor across the finish line as state Rep. La Shawn Ford narrowly outpaced Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, 24-21 percent, in the Democratic primary. Conyears-Ervin had benefitted from spending by groups tied to AIPAC, while Ford weathered attacks from a pro-crypocurrency group. Union leader Anthony Driver Jr. placed third with 11 percent, while progressive Kina Collins, who nearly defeated Davis in the 2022 primary, came in fourth with 10 percent. Solid Democratic.
8th District.
Former Rep. Melissa Bean, whose vote for the Affordable Care Act cost her this seat more than a decade ago, won her comeback bid with 32 percent against a fractured field. Her closest competitor, tech entrepreneur Junaid Ahmed, was backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and a slew of progressive organizations but couldn’t fully consolidate the left lane of the primary and finished with 27 percent. Veteran Dan Tully won 12 percent, while five other candidates finished in the single digits. Bean was supported by spending from PACs aligned with AIPAC, cryptocurrency interests, and pro-AI groups. Solid Democratic.
9th District.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss secured the Democratic nomination with 29 percent of the vote. The result itself was unremarkable — Biss runs the district’s most populous city and had an endorsement from outgoing Rep. Jan Schakowsky — but the race was anything but. AIPAC-aligned groups spent millions of dollars boosting state Sen. Laura Fine, whose position on Israel they preferred to Biss’s, who is himself the son of an Israeli immigrant. The AIPAC-aligned groups also spent money attacking a third candidate, journalist Kat Abughazaleh, who was the candidate most critical of Israel. Abughazaleh finished in second with 26 percent, while Fine won 20 percent. Progressive Bushra Amiwala, a Skokie Board of Education member, finished in sixth with 5 percent — pro-Israel groups launched a last-minute attempt to highlight her candidacy in an effort to siphon progressive votes from Biss and Abughazaleh. Solid Democratic.