Juliana Stratton

Juliana Stratton is the 48th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, serving since January 2019 alongside Governor J.B. Pritzker, and is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2026. She was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1987) and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law (1992). Before entering public office she worked as a mediator, arbitrator, and restorative justice practitioner and served as executive director of Cook County Justice for Children and the Cook County Justice Advisory Council; she founded JDS Mediation Services, Inc., taught conflict management and negotiation at Loyola University Chicago, and directed the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She represented Illinois House District 5 from 2017 to 2019. She and her husband, Bryan, live in Chicago's Bronzeville community and have four daughters.