As he competes for Illinois’ open Senate seat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is hoping that the state’s sizable Jewish community, concentrated in the Chicago area, will help him chart a path to victory in the Democratic primary.

Analysts see the Jewish vote as potentially up for grabs in the election to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), which pits Krishnamoorthi against Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. Krishnamoorthi, a suburban Chicago lawmaker seen as more moderate than his challengers in the race, says he’s best positioned to claim that lane.

“I think Jewish Americans are just like everyone else, first of all, and they care about the full range of issues that all voters care about,” Krishnamoorthi said, when asked by Jewish Insider in a recent interview why the Jewish community should back him.

“However, I do think that they have a desire for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” Krishnamoorthi continued, “and I don’t think there’s anybody else with the track record in this race that I possess, showing strong support for that relationship, but also knowing why that relationship needs to continue to be strong on a bipartisan basis, and we need to take this out of politics.”

On a series of key votes on Middle East and antisemitism issues since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel, Krishnamoorthi has sometimes voted against legislation supported by Jewish and pro-Israel groups, but his record on those issues has been stronger than Kelly’s. On several occasions when the two have voted differently, Krishnamoorthi has sided with positions supported by leading Jewish and pro-Israel groups. 

Krishnamoorthi was endorsed by AIPAC in his 2024 reelection race; Kelly was not.

The Illinois Senate hopeful took a mildly critical position, however, on the U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear program. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Cannot,” Krishnamoorthi said, while adding that the President Donald Trump “cannot take unilateral military action in Iran without congressional approval,” calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Several days later, Krishnamoorthi said in a letter to the president that conflicting reports about the strikes’ effectiveness “are deeply alarming and require further evaluation from the intelligence community,” and condemned the administration for reported plans to limit intelligence-sharing with Congress.

The Illinois congressman said in a CNBC interview the morning following Israel’s initial strikes on Iran that he “can understand why the Israelis would take action, especially when Iran is so intransigent at the bargaining table,” noting the International Atomic Energy Agency’s findings of Iranian malfeasance.

Krishnamoorthi went on to say that he is “100% in favor of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship” but also is “hoping we can de-escalate a little bit for a second, maybe give Iran a chance to come back to the negotiating table and make sure that we protect our U.S. troops and interests in the region.” He said he believed it was not too late for an agreement.

He characterized Iran as desperate for sanctions relief, adding that “there has to be a verifiable way that we know that their nuclear program is dismantled,” and that a deal should also address Iran’s other malign activities, such as its support for the Houthis.

Krishnamoorthi spoke to JI days after an antisemitic extremist attacked a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., and after he joined 74 other Democrats — less than half of the caucus — in voting for a Republican-led resolution that condemned the attack while also praising Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kelly voted against that resolution.

“I think there’s been a rise in antisemitism in this country … and I don’t think we have done enough to stem the rise. And I wanted to send a very clear message that this is intolerable,” Krishnamoorthi said, of his vote. “I also think that people need to understand that antisemitism is kind of the canary in the coal mine for a host of other ills that accompany it. If we don’t stamp this out with one voice, it’s not going to go away.”

Asked about the fact that the Boulder attacker, the Capital Jewish Museum shooter and the arsonist who attacked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home all cited the war in Gaza as the motivation for their actions, Krishnamoorthi said that leaders need to be mindful of the role their rhetoric can play in driving a nationwide surge of political violence.

“I think that what you say is important because it could potentially ignite violence. Politically violent rhetoric can then lead to violence,” Krishnamoorthi said. “We should, as politicians, as elected officials, be very careful with what we say about the conflict, any conflict — that goes for what’s happening in Gaza, but it really goes for what happens anywhere.”

He cited the phrase, “from the river to the sea” as one slogan that “to a lot of people … is code for potentially taking violent acts against a certain people.” 

To address the antisemitism crisis in the United States, Krishnamoorthi said that Congress needs to move beyond nonbinding resolutions to binding legislation. He noted that he was a lead sponsor of the 2023 Hate Crimes Commission Act, which was supported by some Jewish groups, that would study the rise of hate crimes and issues of underreporting and provide recommendations on how to prevent hate crimes.

Krishnamoorthi voted in favor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which Kelly opposed. He opposed some resolutions the House has voted on regarding antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023, voting “present” on a resolution describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic, and against a resolution calling for college presidents to resign after their testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

On the former, he said he’d heard from Jewish and other constituents “that there’s a difference between being against Zionism and being against Jewish people” and that he didn’t “want to necessarily broaden the definition so much that people could not somehow be critical of the policies of Israel, and if they were, would be called antisemitic, because it turns out that a lot of Jewish Americans told me that they fell in that category.”

On the latter, he said that he thought the college presidents’ testimony was “terrible” and “unacceptable” but felt that government intrusion into private universities or other organizations’ hiring decisions “opens a Pandora’s box of potentially really bad outcomes.”

Looking at the ongoing war in Gaza, Krishnamoorthi said that the immediate goal should be to reach a ceasefire and hostage-release deal as soon as possible, and to work in the long term toward a two-state solution. He said that a Palestinian state must be peaceful and cannot be led by Hamas.

“The good news is there’s a lot of other neighbors that are willing to help fund this type of situation, if we would just like keep our eyes on the prize,” he said, “because ultimately, what we want to see is the Abraham Accords fully blossom into full recognition of Israel by her neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and all the Gulf states and the Palestinian state being funded by them, and then real trade and other commercial ties binding the region.”

He said he’s been particularly impressed by Jordan’s King Abdullah II in annual meetings between the Jordanian monarch and the House Intelligence Committee.

“When you have people like that — he’s literally putting his life on the line every day for this vision — then I have hope,” Krishnamoorthi said. “But getting there is obviously a huge challenge. But we have to kind of seize this moment.”

On the Intelligence Committee, Krishnamoorthi said he sees on a daily basis the value of the U.S.-Israel relationship, which provides “remarkable intelligence sharing” and innovative defense technologies that help protect U.S. personnel and interests. 

He voted in favor of supplemental U.S. aid to Israel last year, and said he would not support legislation like that pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and other Senate progressives that seeks to block various arms transfers to Israel. He noted that all U.S. arms sales are already subject to conditions, that placing additional “onerous conditions” on aid to Israel to defend itself would not be consistent with U.S. interests.

Rabbi Barry Axler, a Chicago-area supporter of Krishnamoorthi who is co-chairing a fundraiser for the Jewish and pro-Israel community, told JI that Krishnamoorthi is a longtime friend of the Jewish community and hopes it will stand behind him.

“Of the three candidates running here, he’s the strongest by far for Israel, and I’m getting behind him as best as I can,” Axler said. “One is Robin Kelly, who … has not been the best friend of our community, of Israel. The other one is the lieutenant governor, Stratton, and she’s got no background at all with us.”

“Even if the other two had more or less strong records on Israel, Raja’s been there before and we just can’t abandon him,” Axler continued.

He said that Krishnamoorthi has told him that his family has strong ties to the Jewish community, having sent his children to a local Jewish Community Center preschool.

“He said, ‘Every Friday they used to come home and sing ‘Shabbat Shalom’ — but I put my foot down when they wanted to build a sukkah,’” Axler recounted.

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) said on Monday that she would pass on an anticipated run for the Illinois Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) in 2026, leaving what’s likely to be a three-way race among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Robin Kelly (D-IL).

“Our work is not done, and I’ve decided the most powerful way for me to defend our values and hold Donald Trump accountable is to help Democrats win back the House,” Underwood said in a statement, highlighting her leadership roles in the House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Stratton is backed by billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, as well as Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), while Krishnamoorthi has $19 million in the bank for the race and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are backing Kelly.

Pritzker could put significant funding behind Stratton’s run and reportedly worked behind the scenes to block Underwood and other candidates from entering the race. Underwood, on CNN, denied that Pritzker had forced her to stay out of the race.

A Jewish Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the race candidly, told Jewish Insider they see the Chicagoland Jewish vote — a sizable community — as largely still up for grabs given that none of the candidates have particularly deep ties to the Jewish community coming into the race. They said Jewish voters will likely take time to evaluate each of the candidates.

“I think there’s a lot of inroads for them to make,” the strategist said. “None of these have that long history with the Jewish community … [and] don’t come from natural Jewish areas.”

Kelly and Krishnamoorthi have mixed voting records on priority legislation for the Jewish community, having both opposed several bills and resolutions to combat antisemitism, counter Iran and sanction the Houthis and the International Criminal Court, among other issues.

On the handful of occasions the two have diverged on votes, Krishnamoorthi has generally come down on the side of Jewish and pro-Israel groups — for instance, he supported the Antisemitism Awareness Act, while Kelly opposed it.

The strategist said Kelly may have a shot at gathering Jewish voters’ support given that she has some existing connections with community leaders, from her time as state party chair in 2021 and 2022.

Krishnamoorthi does not currently represent a sizable Jewish community and has not been prominently involved in Jewish issues, the strategist added. 

While Pritzker, who is Jewish, has strong ties to the Jewish community, he has led most of the Jewish outreach from the governor’s office, leaving less of a role for Stratton. The strategist said that Stratton “has a lot of room to grow, especially with Pritzker backing her,” and predicted she’ll make a play for the Jewish vote. “She has a very compelling story that I think will resonate with the Jewish community also.”

Chicago also has one of the nation’s largest Palestinian communities, potentially creating competing political incentives for candidates if Israel policy becomes a prominent issue in the race.

Frank Calabrese, a Chicago-based political strategist, said he sees Stratton and Krishnamoorthi as the likely frontrunners in the race overall at this early stage, with Stratton having an advantage given her relationship with Pritzker.

He said that Underwood’s decision not to run caught many, even well-connected political figures in the state, off guard. Calabrese said Underwood likely felt she would not be able to match Stratton and Krishnamoorthi in fundraising, even though she could have been an “ideal type of candidate.”

“I believe Robin Kelly is the weakest of the three just because it’s going to come down to fundraising,” Calabrese said, adding that Pritzker and his political operation have made strong inroads with the Black community, leaving Kelly at a disadvantage with a potential base. He noted that Kelly and Pritzker have preexisting tension — Pritzker forced her out as state party chair in 2022.

But Calabrese said that Stratton’s close ties to the state’s Democratic establishment — Pritzker and Duckworth — could end up being a liability with some Democrats and progressives, particularly the wing of the party that supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaigns. That said, Krishnamoorthi is not strongly aligned with the Sanders wing of the party either, he noted.

Tom Bowen, a Democratic strategist in the Chicago area, argued that the outcome of the race will ultimately be shaped by events over the course of the coming year and that early metrics are often unreliable, especially in multi-candidate races. He predicted that Democratic voters would “take their time” in deciding.

“It’s very obvious the governor’s hand is at work in this, and that he has a preference for the woman he believes should lead the state,” Bowen said. But he argued that might not help Stratton as much in a cycle when some Democrats are looking for big changes. “I’m not sure anybody else’s opinion but their own is going to be the deciding factor here.”

He said that candidates’ backgrounds, endorsements and fundraising are “not insignificant, but voters pay pretty close attention when there’s a moment of crisis, so the one who meets the moment is going to be the one who is successful.”

The Jewish Democratic strategist said they believe the field may not yet be entirely set, noting that businessman Chris Kennedy — brother of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — may also enter the race.

The strategist said that Underwood’s decision not to run makes sense given that she would have been competing against Stratton and Kelly, two other Black women, she is gaining seniority in the House Democratic Caucus and she is young, giving her time to continue to build her national profile.

They said that it’s likely a wide-open race at this point, adding that, while Kelly may currently be the underdog, there’s plenty of runway for her to gain ground if her allies in the CBC put significant backing behind her.

“Most people have no clue who these people are,” the strategist said, “Money helps, but at the end, they have to connect with the voters. And it’s such a diverse state.”