WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Wednesday he will not seek reelection in 2026, ending his more than four-decade career representing Illinois and accelerating a generational shift in Senate Democratic leadership where he has held the No. 2 position for 20 years.
Durbin, 80, is in his fifth Senate term and was first elected to the House in 1982. His decision not to run will set off a scramble for his Senate seat in solidly Democratic Illinois and for his leadership position in Washington, as many in the party agitate for a new and more aggressive approach to confronting Republican President Donald Trump in his second term.
“The decision of whether to run has not been easy,” Durbin said in a video posted to X. “I truly love the job of being a United States senator. But in my heart I know it’s time to pass the torch.”
His departure is a part of a coming generational shift in the chamber, where the median age is about 65. Durbin is the fifth senator to announce that he will not run for reelection, along with Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, 83; Gary Peters, D-Mich., 66; Tina Smith, D-Minn., 67; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., 78.
Durbin served seven terms in the House before succeeding his mentor, Paul Simon, in the Senate in 1996. Durbin has been the No. 2 Senate Democrat since 2005. From that post, he helped shape the career of an up-and-comer from Illinois, Barack Obama, who was only four years into his first term in the Senate when he was elected president. Obama said in a post on X after Durbin’s announcement that “I would not have been a United States Senator — and certainly would not have been President — had it not been for Dick’s support.”
As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during Democratic President Joe Biden’s term, Durbin led the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022.
He also organized the Democrats’ pushback when Trump and Senate Republicans pushed through the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in late 2020.
Durbin is part of a Senate leadership team that has been in place for almost two decades, alongside the current Senate Democratic leader, New York’s Charles Schumer, 74, and the late Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who retired in 2017 and died in 2021.
The race for Durbin’s No. 2 spot is likely to be seen as an early test for who could eventually replace Schumer as younger members of the caucus have eyed a new generation of leaders.
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, one of the Democrats who is considered a possible contender for the second-ranking job, put out a statement within minutes of Durbin’s announcement saying Durbin has been “a pillar of leadership, integrity, and unwavering dedication to the people of his home state of Illinois and the nation.”
Among Durbin’s more significant legislative achievements, he is largely credited with putting in motion the movement to ban indoor smoking.
Having watched his 53-year-old father die of lung cancer when he was 14, Durbin won approval of legislation he sponsored in 1987 prohibiting smoking on short commercial flights and expanded it to nearly all domestic flights two years later.
“People started asking, ‘If secondhand smoke wasn’t safe on airplanes — why is it safe in public buildings, schools, hospitals or restaurants?’ The answer is simple: It’s not,” Durbin said on the 25th anniversary of the law.
In the early 2000s, he introduced the DREAM Act, which would give immigrants in the U.S. illegally who grew up in the country a pathway toward U.S. citizenship.
It never became law, but in 2010, Durbin and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., wrote Obama asking him to stop deporting those who came to be called Dreamers.
Obama responded with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which has covered about 830,000 immigrants, according to Durbin’s office.
Durbin was also instrumental in reversing a war on drugs-era law that penalized crack cocaine in a 100-to-1 ratio to powder cocaine, a law that disproportionately hit Black defendants with long prison terms.
The new law was made retroactive, reducing the sentences for those serving time for crack.
With Republican and Democratic co-sponsors, Durbin pushed the First Step Act, which Trump signed into law in 2018. The criminal justice system revamp aimed to make sentencing laws fairer and provide programs to help people who are incarcerated return to society.
Richard Durbin was born in 1944 in East St. Louis. In 1966, after graduating from Georgetown University, he interned for Sen. Paul Douglas, whose seat he now holds. It was Douglas, who lost election to a fourth term in 1966, who once mistakenly called him “Dick,” a nickname Durbin adopted.
Durbin earned a law degree from Georgetown and worked as legal counsel for Simon, who was lieutenant governor in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and then for the Legislature through the 1970s.
In 1978, Durbin made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, after which he maintained a private legal practice and co-owned a Springfield tavern.
A redrawn district, an economic recession and funding from pro-Israel forces were factors when in 1982 Durbin ousted Paul Findley, an 11-term Republican congressman who was best known for his criticism of American policy toward Israel and support of Palestinians.
In 2000, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore considered Durbin for the vice presidency, before choosing Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.
But a few years later, Durbin influenced another presidential candidate when he served as a sounding board for and adviser to Obama.
WHO’S NEXT?
Some of the Illinois Democrats seriously considering a run for Durbin’s seat are decades younger. They include Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, 51; Robin Kelly, 68; and Lauren Underwood, 38; and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, 59, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the planning.
“The primary is the game,” David Axelrod, a longtime Democratic strategist in Illinois who was the chief strategist on Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, wrote in a text message. “Whomever wins it will be heavy favorite to take this seat.”
It could be an expensive race. Krishnamoorthi has $19.4 million in his campaign account after years of fundraising, and Chicago is one of the country’s most expensive media markets.
The wild card is Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire who has spent $350 million on two campaigns for governor with Stratton as his running mate.
Pritzker has not said whether he plans to endorse Stratton or support her financially if she runs, but a person familiar with his thinking — who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Stratton has not announced a campaign — said Pritzker and Stratton were close and “It wouldn’t be surprising that he would back her” if she runs.
People who have spoken with Underwood say she favors jumping into the race, and she has made moves that signal her potential aspirations, such as bringing on new political staffers. But none of the Democrats vying to succeed Durbin said Wednesday they would run.
“Today is a day to celebrate Sen. Dick Durbin for his exemplary career of public service as well as the profound and lasting positive impact he’s had on Illinois families and our nation,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.
Stratton, Underwood and Kelly also praised Durbin’s legacy, as did Schumer — who once roomed with Durbin in Washington — and Obama.
Information for this article was contributed by Mary Clare Jalonick and John O’Connor of The Associated Press; and by Theodoric Meyer, Hannah Knowles, Dan Diamond and Meryl Kornfield of The Washington Post.
