{"id":2427185,"date":"2025-04-24T19:23:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T23:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/durbin-wont-rule-out-senate-endorsement-in-illinois-succession-race-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T19:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T23:24:59","slug":"durbin-wont-rule-out-senate-endorsement-in-illinois-succession-race-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/durbin-wont-rule-out-senate-endorsement-in-illinois-succession-race-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Durbin won\u2019t rule out Senate endorsement in Illinois succession race &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdurbin-wont-rule-out-senate-endorsement-in-illinois-succession-race-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2427185&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently announced his retirement after five terms. He expressed his intention not to endorse any particular candidate for his Senate seat but acknowledged he might consider supporting a successor in an &#8220;extreme case.&#8221; Durbin praised the &#8220;strong Democratic bench&#8221; in Illinois, highlighting that candidates like Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton have already entered the race and others are expected to follow. Reflecting on his <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">long congressional career<\/a>, Durbin cited age and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-ketanji-brown-jackson-involved-in-anti-racist-agreement-that-all-parents-at-georgetown-day-school-sign\/\" title=\"Exclusive ... Ketanji Brown Jackson Involved in &#039;Anti...Racist&#039; Agreement that All Parents at Georgetown Day School Sign\">commitment required<\/a> for a senate campaign as reasons for his decision to retire. He also lamented the lack of progress on the DREAM act, which he sought to pass during his tenure.As he steps away, he emphasized the importance of empowering the next generation of Democratic leaders.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Durbin won&rsquo;t rule out Senate endorsement in Illinois succession race<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2105098\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Senate Minority Whip <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dick-durbin\/\">Dick Durbin<\/a> (D-IL) has no plans to endorse in the race for his Illinois Senate seat, though he left the door open to backing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3377405\/illinois-democrats-durbin-2026-elections\/\">would-be successor<\/a> in an &ldquo;extreme case.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not planning on endorsing any particular candidate. I hope I don&rsquo;t have to, but I&rsquo;m not ruling out the possibility,&rdquo; Durbin said in a press conference Thursday, one day after he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3388731\/durbin-announces-retirement-senate\/\">announced<\/a> he would retire after five terms in the Senate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3390287\/warren-launches-investigation-trump-dismantling-department-of-education\/\">Warren launches investigation into Trump&#8217;s dismantling of the Department of Education<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3389884\/dnc-chairman-rebukes-david-hogg\/\">DNC chairman criticizes David Hogg promise to meddle in Democratic primaries<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3389830\/illinois-lieutenant-governor-juliana-stratton-announces-senate-run\/\">Illinois lieutenant governor announces run for Senate after Durbin retirement announcement<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Speaking to reporters outside of his Springfield home, Durbin praised the &ldquo;strong Democratic bench&rdquo; that will fight for his seat. Already, Illinois Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3389830\/illinois-lieutenant-governor-juliana-stratton-announces-senate-run\/\">launched<\/a> her candidacy, while multiple House lawmakers are expected to follow suit in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You heard some names already, believe me, you&rsquo;re going to hear more,&rdquo; Durbin said.<\/p>\n<p>Durbin declined to hint at his preferred successor when asked if there were any &ldquo;criteria&rdquo; important to him, such as ethnicity or gender, but noted the background of his Illinois colleague, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), as a disabled veteran and Asian American woman.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I mean, it&rsquo;s up to the voters to decide what&rsquo;s right and who the right person is,&rdquo; Durbin said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to make that decision, but I am confident we&rsquo;re going to have a diverse group of candidates running for the United States Senate, and it&rsquo;s going to make a difference.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Across 20 minutes, Durbin reflected on his four-decade congressional career and the factors that led him to retire. He said the election of President Donald Trump weighed against that calculus but that it was ultimately his age that proved decisive.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think at this point it was the right thing to do,&rdquo; Durbin, 80, said of running again, citing the &ldquo;eight-year commitment&rdquo; that comes with campaign travel and a six-year term.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I feel good and strong and healthy and go to work like I&rsquo;m supposed to, travel back and forth to Washington every week, but I had to project forward,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Durbin sighed when asked about leaving Congress without passage of the DREAM Act, his signature bill providing a pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, though he promised to &ldquo;fight&rdquo; Trump if they get swept up in his mass deportation plan.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I have a lot of ambitions and things I&rsquo;d like to see improved in this country. I&rsquo;ll get a chance to work on some of them before I leave, some of them I won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Durbin said when asked if he had any regrets or frustrations as he retires. &ldquo;But at some point, you&rsquo;ve got to come to trust that the next generation will feel as you do, and work hard to get things done.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In his retirement announcement and again on Thursday, Durbin mentioned a desire to &ldquo;pass the torch&rdquo; as younger Democrats clamor for leadership change in the party.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3377405\/illinois-democrats-durbin-2026-elections\/\"><strong>ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS WAIT IN THE WINGS FOR DURBIN 2026 ANNOUNCEMENT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, was not asked about his preference in the early race to replace him as Democratic whip. But he did praise Duckworth, who will become the senior senator from Illinois in 2027, while joking that he jump-started her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-arizona-state-rep-issues-call-to-withhold-states-electoral-college-votes-to-joe-biden-due-to-significant-evidence-of-fraud\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Arizona State Rep Issues Call to Withhold State&#039;s Electoral College Votes to Joe Biden Due to Significant Evidence of Fraud\">political career<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I take credit for it. I think I can prove that I discovered her,&rdquo; Durbin said, noting that he invited her to the State of the Union as his guest in 2005, shortly after she was wounded in combat in Iraq.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2105098\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2105098\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Durbin may endorse a successor in Illinois Senate race<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2651,"featured_media":2427188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/durbin-judges-schumer-biden-1024x592.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[51152,6413,44620,54037,32076],"class_list":["post-2427185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-durbin-2","tag-illinois","tag-senate-endorsement","tag-succession-race","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/durbin-judges-schumer-biden-1024x592.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2651"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2427190,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427185\/revisions\/2427190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2427188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}