Throughout her time in statewide office, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton has worked tirelessly day in and day out to give the people of Illinois what they want. As a wife, mother, and lifelong resident of the South Side of Chicago, she understands that a core part of that work includes keeping everyday Illinoisans safe from the scourge of gun violence—and in the US Senate, she’ll be a persistent fighter for the type of comprehensive reforms needed to save lives.

For Lieutenant Governor Stratton, the chance to advocate for commonsense gun safety measures at the federal level will be a continuation of the incredibly strong record of achieving results she’s built at the state and local level. Alongside Governor JB Pritzker, Lieutenant Governor Stratton has worked in Springfield over the last eight years to increase violence prevention and intervention funding across the state; ban dangerous assault weapons, ghost guns, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines; and champion measures to hold gun manufacturers accountable for unsafe marketing practices. She’s also pushed to recognize violence as a public health epidemic, and as the head of the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative—a key body that advises Governor Pritzker on justice reform policy and legislation—Lieutenant Governor Stratton has personally overseen several criminal justice–related agencies and regularly convened advocates and stakeholders to advance equity-focused policies and practices designed to reduce crime.

So much of this work has been directly born out of Lieutenant Governor Stratton’s lived experience—not only as someone with firsthand experience with the deadly impacts of gun violence, but as an advocate who has pushed to enact meaningful progress as well. Prior to her time as lieutenant governor, she served as the director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago and as a state representative, where she spent her days working to keep her constituents safe from harm at every turn. 

It’s clear that Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton will be ready to tackle the hard work of stopping gun violence from her first day in the Senate. With so much on the line this fall, it is more imperative than ever that voters send gun safety champions like her to Washington DC and reinstall a gun safety majority in the US Senate, where we know she will never stop working until every child across the state of Illinois can live a safer life.

We are proud to endorse Juliana Stratton for the US Senate.