‘I’ve done this my way’: Durbin reflects on decision to retire

SPRINGFIELD – Standing on his backyard deck Thursday – the same place where he declared his 1996 candidacy for U.S. Senate – Illinois’ senior Sen. Dick Durbin reflected on his decision to retire after four decades in Congress.

“I’ve done this my way, making decisions based on family needs and personal needs, and what I thought would serve our state well,” Durbin told reporters with a crowd of staff, family and friends listening in the background.

Durbin, a Springfield Democrat who was born in East St. Louis, announced Wednesday he will retire from the Senate when his term ends in 2027 following 44 years in Congress. He has been the No. 2 ranking Democrat in the Senate since taking over as caucus whip in 2005 and chaired the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee during the Biden administration.

Durbin, 80, would be 88 at the end of another term if he won in the 2026 election. Durbin said he still feels up to the job today, but that may not be the case by the time another term would end in 2033.

Read more: Sen. Dick Durbin to retire after more than 4 decades in Congress

Durbin is one of six senators who are at least 80 years old. The age of the nation’s leaders became a key issue early in the 2024 presidential election after a poor debate performance by former President Joe Biden, who was 81 at the time. President Donald Trump is 78.

Durbin said he doesn’t believe age has ever gotten in the way of his job.

“I had to project forward,” Durbin said. “The campaign’s going to last two years, and then you’re going to serve six years. So are you ready to make an eight-year commitment? That’s the truth and reality of the United States Senate. I didn’t think at this point it was the right thing to do.”

There’s still more he wants to accomplish as a legislator, Durbin said, despite being in the minority party in Congress. He said Trump’s second administration made his decision more difficult.

“The madder I got about what Trump is doing to this country and to the Constitution, the more I wanted to serve and not step aside,” Durbin said.

Durbin didn’t express any regrets about the job, noting that on a personal level, he flew home from Washington, D.C., every weekend of his career. But in the legislature, Durbin has long sponsored the DREAM Act – an initiative to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and could be subject to deportation. Durbin has unsuccessfully pushed the bill for more than 20 years.

“The first time I’d ever met Donald Trump, he had just been sworn in as president. I was at a luncheon and walked up to him and said, ‘I want to talk to you about the DREAM Act,’” Durbin recalled. “He said, ‘you don’t have to say another word. You’re talking about those young kids? I’ll take care of them.’”

The DREAM Act was a basis for DACA, short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which was established in 2012 under President Barack Obama. Trump tried to phase out the program during his first term. Durbin said that while he continues to push Congress to pass the DREAM Act, he doesn’t believe it will move forward during his final years with Trump at the helm.

Durbin’s retirement is expected to open the door for a dozen or more Illinois Democrats to throw their hat into a 2026 Democratic primary. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a Chicago Democrat, became the first person to launch a Senate campaign Thursday morning.

Read more: Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton announces U.S. Senate campaign

“I’m not planning on endorsing any particular candidate,” Durbin said. “I hope I don’t have to but I’m not ruling out the possibility in an extreme case. I just think it’s up to the voters, the Democratic voters, to make this choice moving forward.”

He acknowledged talking with Stratton and other candidates about running for office, chiefly that no one interested in running for Senate wanted to run against Durbin in a primary.

Durbin represents an old breed in Illinois politics of influential downstate Democrats. He succeeded his mentor, the late former Sen. Paul Simon, who was also a downstate Democrat. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Hoffman Estates in Cook County, will become the state’s senior senator in 2027.

The Democratic nominee for Durbin’s seat could be from the Chicago area. Durbin said the state’s next senator must represent the interests of the whole state.

“Work the entire state. Discover downstate if you don’t know it,” Durbin said. “Discover the suburbs, the surrounding counties and Cook County, the city of Chicago … that’s been one of the real blessings of this job.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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