Brenden Moore
BLOOMINGTON -- Wherever he goes, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi tells his audience that it's okay to skip his full 29-letter name and to "just call me Raja."
"This is a true story, and I've said it before: When I first ran for office in Illinois, I said, 'Hi, my name is Raja Krish-na-moorthi,'" the Schaumburg Democrat recalled during a campaign stop in Bloomington. "And the person in Chicago looked right back at me and said, 'Roger Christian Murphy, very nice to meet you.' And then he said, 'I didn't know the Irish made it to India.'"
It's an icebreaker Krishnamoorthi, 51, has used often to connect with voters as he crisscrosses the state campaigning for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin.
The Peoria native, who's represented Chicago's northwest suburbs in the U.S. House since 2017, is among the leading contenders in a field that also includes Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson.
On Friday, Krishnamoorthi glad-handed about two-dozen Democrats at a meet-and-greet organized by his campaign at Shake It Up Cocktail Lounge & Eatery in Bloomington. He then toured downtown, making stops inside Red Raccoon Games, Bobzbay Books and the office of the McLean County Democratic Party.
"I don't want to discriminate, but Bloomington-Normal and McLean County have a certain energy about it, a certain vitality, which I think could be contagious if we could spread the good ideas that you folks have sprouted to the rest of Illinois and the country," Krishnamoorthi said.
With prospective voters and later in an interview with The Pantagraph, Krishnamoorthi emphasized the need to hold President Donald Trump and his administration accountable and, beyond that, to deliver solutions to the economic hardships people are facing.
Krishnamoorthi's message
Surveying the crowded field of Senate candidates, Krishnamoorthi said that both his political and personal experiences make him best for the job.
"First of all, I like my opponents, and I work with them," Krishnamoorthi said. "But I think what sets me apart is two things: One, we need someone with a track record of standing up to bullies and standing up for accountability and has a track record of results, and we need that now more than ever with regard to Donald Trump and what we're seeing with the Trump administration."
"Two, we need someone who is attuned to the economic challenges that people have whether they're working poor, middle class or growing a business," he said.
Krishnamoorthi, who was president of a research-oriented firm prior to serving in elected office, highlighted the effect of Trump's tariff policies on small businesses and farmers.
Noting that he was spent part of his childhood in public housing and on food assistance programs, Krishnamoorthi lambasted the more than $1.2 trillion in cuts projected to the nation's social safety net under the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" signed by Trump earlier this month.
But Krishnamoorthi said that Democrats needed to present their own comprehensive plan a la "Project 2025" to potential voters.
"I think that right now, we're kind of in a situation where people are like, 'OK, I don't like this product, whatever I see with the Trump administration, but I'm not necessarily sold on you, so please give me a path to how I can vote for you or support you, and it better have something to do with my pocketbook,'" Krishnamoorthi said.
As examples, Krishnamoorthi said that Democrats should champion skills-based vocational education programs that build pipelines to high-paying jobs in construction and manufacturing.
And, speaking in a region with a severe housing shortage, Krishnamoorthi suggested the need to support ideas like a federal tax credit for those embarking on the expensive undertaking of converting vacant commercial spaces into affordable housing.
"We have to be the party of change," Krishnamoorthi said. "We can never be the party of the status quo. We can never be the party that says, 'Oh yeah, government is great, don't worry about what you're seeing. Everything is great.'
"We have to be the ones who are saying, 'You know what? We're going to make government an indispensable partner to your American dream.'"
Reaction in the room
Krishnamoorthi's message was well-received by the Democrats who gathered to hear his pitch, though not everyone was ready to declare their support.
"He just kind of checks a lot of the boxes that I really like politically," said Ward 6 Ald. Cody Hendricks, who remains undecided. He called Krishnamoorthi "a really good candidate who could do a lot of really good work in the Senate."
"For me, it does come down to policies, and I think that that's one thing that really stands out to me from Raja," Hendricks said. "We've seen his work in Congress, which is a little bit different than what we see maybe working in state government."
Julie Emig, executive director of the McLean County Museum of History, said she was "very impressed with Raja, and I've always been a big fan of Juliana Stratton as well."
"I'm just delighted that we have such great options right now," she said. "The choice should be hard, right?"
One person with their mind already made up is state Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington.
One of Krishnamoorthi's early endorsers, Chung noted that he hosted congressional events in the Twin Cities long before his Senate campaign despite it being more than a hundred miles away from his suburban Chicago congressional district. That, combined with his Peoria roots, convinced Chung that Krishnamoorthi would be attuned to downstate issues.
"We love that downstate connection because I feel like -- I see this all the time in the General Assembly -- our needs here in Central Illinois, we sometimes have to fight for them a little louder than other parts of the state," Chung said.
Krishnamoorthi told The Pantagraph in an interview that "this region occupies a special place in my heart."
"I remember when the Mitsubishi Company first occupied the space that Rivian later on occupied and how excited people were when Mitsubishi arrived,and how sad they were when Mitsubishi,I believe,pulled out because of financial problems,"Krishnamoorthi said,re ferring to the evolution of the sprawling auto plant on Normal's west side.
"I've seen Caterpillar go through tremendous struggles and then also successes,"he added."Those ups and downs are kind of part of my life,and I want to see us on more of an upward trajectory,and bring some stability,economic stability here and elsewhere."
Money a campaign issue
Krishnamoorthi has spent years laying the groundwork for a Senate run. He has been the most aggressive fundraiser in Illinois' congressional delegation. Earlier this month, he campaign reported more than $21 million cash on hand and raising more than $3.1 million since he jumped into the race in May.
Stratton, who has raised more than $1 million since launching her campaign, announced earlier in the week that she would not accept contributions from corporate political action committees, calling it "a clear difference between her and the other Democrats in the primary."
In small-dollar fundraising pitches, Stratton has used Krishnamoorthi's robust fundraising, including the $3.2 million raised from PACs aligned with business interests, to criticize him.
"That kind of money isn't just a line in a budget," Stratton's campaign writes in the pitch."It means nonstop TV ads,high-priced consultants,gossy mailers,and algorithms working overtime to flood your feed.It's what career politicians use to try to drown out grassroots support."
Stratton,of course,has been elected twice on a ticket with Gov.JB Pritzker,a billionaire self-funder who has now endorsed her Senate campaign.
It is not yet known if or how much Pritzker will spend on Stratton’s behalf.But a super PAC,c-founded by a former Pritzker aide,w s formed last month to support Stratton’s candidacy.This would give Pritzker and other wealthy supporters a vehicle to donate unlimited sums in support of her candidacy without giving it to her campaign directly.
"Let me get this straight:So is a candidate who is going to be actively hoping for super PAC money complaining about other candidates taking employee PAC money from local corporations?It's just a little rich,"Krishnamoorthi said in response to criticism from Stratton's campaign.
Krishnamoorthi said that he favors campaign finance reform.
"Right now,it’s messed up in this country,"Krishnamoorthi said."But in order for us to change those rules,we gotta win the election,and we gotta play within the rulesand make surethat we don’t lose to someone like Elon Musk or any other entitythat would rollin hereand,basic lly,under current rules,gamethesystemandmakeit impossibleforDemocratstoprevail."
Candidates can begin collecting petitions to secure a place on the primary ballot next month. The election will be held March 17, 2026.
Contact Brenden Moore at brenden.moore@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter: @brendenmoore13