Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the state's open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, defeating Republican Don Tracy, PBS News reported. Her win sets a new mark for the chamber.
When Stratton is sworn in, three Black women will serve in the U.S. Senate at the same time for the first time in history. She will join Democratic Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. Neither of them was on the ballot this year.
Stratton will also be the second Black woman to represent Illinois in the Senate. She takes the seat held by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is retiring after five terms.
She is a familiar name to Illinois voters. Stratton was elected lieutenant governor twice as Gov. JB Pritzker's running mate, and Pritzker endorsed her in a contested Democratic Senate primary. Pritzker also won Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat elected to a third term as Illinois governor.
On the issues, Stratton supports Medicare for All. She has been a sharp critic of President Donald Trump, including his decision to send National Guard troops and federal immigration agents into Chicago. Tracy, her Republican opponent, is a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.
Illinois has long been a reliably Democratic state in Senate races, so the seat was not one of the night's main battlegrounds. Still, the result keeps the seat in Democratic hands at a time when the party is trying to win a majority. Democrats were also counting on holding seats in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire while picking up others, such as North Carolina, where former Gov. Roy Cooper won.
Stratton and the rest of the new Senate class will take office in January. Raw 100.5 will keep following results as more races are called.
Sources: PBS News, The Associated Press