Illinois U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi held his first campaign event since announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate with a stop in Peoria, surrounded by supporters in front of his childhood home.
The 51-year old Schaumburg Democrat officially launched his campaign to fill the vacancy left by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin on Wednesday. Krishnamoorthi joins a growing field of candidates hoping to fill the top Democrat’s seat including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly.
At the Friday event in a north Peoria neighborhood, Krishnamoorthi outlined his path to politics.
Born in India, he moved with his parents to Buffalo, New York when he was three months old. His family temporarily moved into public housing and used the food stamps program during a recession in 1973, as his father worked on a master’s degree in engineering.
Krishnamoorthi said his father finished the degree, packed up his family and found a good paying job in Peoria.
“Every night at the dinner table inside, my father would say, ‘think of the greatness of this country.’ He said, ‘whatever you do, make sure this country is there for the next families who need it,’” said Krishnamoorthi. “That became the North Star, my personal compass. That became my ‘why,’ that was my mission statement. It all started there.”
Krishnamoorthi stressed to gathered supporters his opposition to the Trump administration and funding and staffing cuts enacted by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He said the American dream achieved by his family is “slipping from the grasp of millions of people every single day.”
“Remember that legal immigration system that enabled us to come here that is now being actively dismantled … the public housing and food stamps that allowed us to survive while times were tough are on the chopping block in Congress today,” he said. “And those public schools, District 150, all Illinois public schools and, indeed, all public schools in the country, are under threat as we have an administration that wants to close the Department of Education.”
Krishnamoorthi said a commitment to constituent services is a feature of Durbin’s tenure he would want to continue. He did not expand on any ways he would differ from Durbin’s legacy.
While Krishnamoorthi makes a point of his opposition to the Trump administration and major GOP policies, he also said he believes he can collaborate across the aisle as a “son of downstate.”
“The types of Republicans that I grew up with are not the types of Republicans that we’re working with in Washington, D.C.,” Krishnamoorthi said. “We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can be civil, we can problem solve and come up with effective, bipartisan, common sense solutions that are rooted in principles.”
Krishnamoorthi said those principles include everyone being “able to climb the economic ladder.” He said collaborating on these principles is possible while still fighting for continued funding to programs like Social Security and Medicare.
“We can’t violate our own kind of rock solid principles and certainly the Constitution,” said Krishnamoorthi. “So those are where I see kind of the choices we have to make.”
Krishnamoorthi said other top priorities are ending “tariff chaos” to ease economic burdens on Americans and continuing Biden-era infrastructure plans.
The 2004 Barack Obama Senate campaign policy director enters this highly competitive race with a mixed bag of advantages and disadvantages. Stratton has already received notable endorsements from Gov. JB Pritzker and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
However, Krishnamoorthi says he doesn’t believe the endorsements set him behind in the race.
“Ultimately, I’m seeking the endorsement of the people of Illinois and I think that the people of Illinois deserve to have a say in who their next U.S. senator is, and so I’ll be working hard to earn their support,” he said.
On the fundraising side, Krishnamoorthi’s campaign is sitting on a war chest of more than $19 million, after raising $3 million in this year alone.
“Peoria embraced [my family] despite kind of outward differences and that is missing right now in Washington D.C.,” he said. “I want to continue to bring that voice in, wherever I serve.”
