Juliana Stratton

Democrat · U.S. Senate, Illinois

Stratton's campaign said she would not have supported the Senate resolutions to block certain U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel. She has called for aid to reach Gaza, and declined to say whether U.S. aid to that government should carry conditions.

Stratton is Illinois' lieutenant governor and the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. She has never held federal office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks are hers.

Her clearest position came in August 2025, when the Senate voted on resolutions to block certain U.S. arms sales to the government of Israel. Her campaign told Jewish Insider she would not have supported them, and gave the reasoning in its own words rather than hers: that cutting off U.S. military aid to the government of Israel could risk standing in the way of a true ceasefire and a sustained peace. Her own statement to the same outlet was about hunger, not about the resolutions: "As a mother, it’s heartwrenching to see images of children forced to go without food. Israel and the United States need to take every possible step to end the humanitarian crisis and ensure aid is immediately and widely made available." That distinction is worth keeping, because the position is the campaign's and the words about hunger are hers.

Two months later, at a nine-candidate forum at Chicago State University, she called for a lasting, permanent ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to Gaza alongside the return of the hostages, where several rivals called the war a genocide and some proposed a full embargo. When a student asked the panel to promise not to take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, she and one other candidate did not answer; the rest pledged not to. That is a question about campaign fundraising rather than about what the United States ships, and it is recorded here as one.

At a primary debate reported in February 2026 she was asked directly whether additional conditions should be placed on U.S. aid to the government of Israel, and did not answer directly. What she said instead was: "I can tell you that as our democratic ally in the Middle East, I believe that Israel has a right to safety and security, but at the very same time, I totally disagree with the way that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has responded to those attacks, and I believe that he should be removed from power, or he should step down, and there should be elections, as the people have been calling for." Asked at the same debate whether she would back a House resolution recognizing a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, she said the devastation and suffering were terrible and that everything possible must be done to get humanitarian aid in, without using the word; the rival who used it said afterwards that neither of her opponents would match her.

So the shape of her record is: against cutting off the weapons, critical of how they are being used, insistent that food and aid get through, and unwilling so far to say whether the aid should carry conditions.

Research

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

⚠ **Multi-candidate carrier.** Both reports cover three Illinois Senate candidates on the same page. Her words sit under her own attribution and the campaign's elaboration is marked as the campaign's; nothing here is taken from a neighbouring candidate's paragraph.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

⚠ **Multi-candidate carrier.** Nine candidates spoke. Only sentences the report attributes to Stratton by name are used.

Characterization of the conflict

Related rhetoric and lobbying

Safety and antisemitism (context)

Race and status context

Also in this race: Whitfield Mr Jr Harrington (Independent), Don Tracy (Republican) · All Illinois candidates.

See the full record →

But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.