Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the 20th year of the Senate Democrats’ 20th year, made a liberal voice on Capitol Hill, announced Wednesday that he would not seek reelection next year, but instead shut down a 44-year congressional career with a focus on immigration, the federal justice system and anti-smoking programs.
The decision of Mr. Dobern, 80, is widely expected and will immediately compete in a rare Senate vacancy within his sturdy blue state. It also exacerbated the generational shift in the room when he became the fifth incumbent to announce his retirement, all of whom were over 65 years old.
In an interview before the announcement, Mr. Dobern, who was the fifth term of the Senate, said fighting with President Trump was not an easy option, and he believed posed a serious threat to democracy. He has described in recent days “where I think, ‘Man, I don’t want to miss this fight.’”
“But you know,” he continued, “I have to be honest with it. There are good people on the wings, good people on the bench are ready to serve, and they can do what I can.”
“In my heart, I know it's time to pass the torch,” the senator said in a video announcing his decision.
Several Democrats in Illinois say they are interested in running if seats are open and ready to acquire potential candidates. They include representative Lauren Underwood, 38; Raja Krishnamoorthhi, 51; Robin Kelly, 68; and Governor Juliana Straton, 59.
Republicans have mastered that over the next 18 months as Democrats stepped on a tough ladder, which could be one of several highly competitive primary elections on both sides to retake the Senate majority.
Mr. Dobern’s departure will reverberate in the Senate, where he played a major role on many major issues and was considered a strong advocate for partisan positions. He was one of the first to move towards citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, a group known as Dreamers, and became the focus of a succession of failed efforts to overhaul immigration laws.
His retirement will also open up democratic leadership for the first time in a decade.
Mr. Dobern entered Congress in 1983 because he nearly defeated the Republican incumbent for 11 years in a newly redesigned Springfield area, which was more favorable to the Democrats. As a junior member of the chamber, Mr. Dobern led the motivation to ban smoking on planes and helped usher in the smoke-free movement through legislation signed by Ronald Reagan in 1988.
“This has to be the most important thing I'm changing America,” Mr. Dobern said. “I tried to get rid of the health hazards and finally reached a turning point on tobacco in the United States. I didn't see that.”
He won a Senate seat after his mentor and friend Paul Simon retired and recognized Mr. Doberman as a replacement, a major boost from outside the Chicago area for Illinois politicians. Mr. Dobern is now the longest senator in his state.
Mr. Durbin, a long-time Judicial Commission force, became its chairman in 2021, rejecting the progressive call, and he made room for young members in light of his leadership position and other legislative responsibilities.
He then oversaw the confirmation of 235 federal judges (including Supreme Court justices) during the Biden administration, exceeding the number of judges Republicans confirmed under Mr. Trump's first radical push. Mr. Dober also abandoned his proposal to abandon what the committee calls the blue skating tradition that has sent Senators to veto power over the judiciary and provide his state with law enforcement draft picks, which Democrats have now hired a lever to stop Mr. Trump.
After the 2004 election, then-ND leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, encouraged Mr. Dobern to seek a second-level position in the party, known as the party whip. A few years later, New York-based Senator Chuck Schumer became the leader of the Third Party, allowing Senate Democrats to leverage his fundraising and strategic skills after managing the party’s campaign division.
When Mr. Reed announced in 2015 that he would not run again, the trio worked closely at the top of the party, creating a sensitive situation. He supported Mr. Schumer in the highest position of Mr. Durbin, who lived with Mr. Schumer in a neighborhood in the Capitol Mountains. Mr. Dobern also supported Mr. Schumer in the top position and held his own leadership position, thus becoming one of the longest-serving party leaders in Congress history.
Mr. Schumer joined numerous Senate Democrats in a statement, praising Mr. Doberman, calling him a “trusted companion, one of the most respected voices in the Senate for decades.” Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, also one of those interested in succeeding Mr. Durbin, called him “the Titan of the Senate.”
“For more than forty years, Senator Dick Durbin has been the backbone of leadership, integrity and unwavering dedication to the people of his hometown of Illinois and the nation,” Mr. Schatz said in a statement.
Mr. Dobern is one of the remaining senators who love the opportunity to mix on the floor with legislators in the aisle. He also has strong ties with some Republicans, including Iowa Senator Charles E. Grassley, who was chairman of the Judiciary Committee of Mr. Dobern as the Democratic Supreme Democratic Party.
The two undertook a criminal justice overhaul, in which Mr. Trump overcame the Republican boycott in his first term, signed it into law, resulting in the early release of thousands of prisoners who were sentenced to convictions. In celebrating the sixth anniversary of the law, Mr Durbin pointed out that less than 10% of the 40,000 prisoners released under the law, many of whom are drug offenders have been rescheduled or imprisoned, far less than the typical re-destruction rate.
He was an early critic of the Iraq War and voted on the 2002 military force. He criticized the abuse of detainees in the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which is comparable to the actions of “Nazis, Soviets or some crazy regime (Pol Pot) or others (not caring about humans but not humans).
In 2001, he introduced the Dream Act with Utah Republican Senator Orrin G. Hatch, who thought that the citizenship of young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States. It never became law, but it laid the foundation for a childhood arrivals program, announced in 2012 by President Barack Obama and protected thousands of immigrants from deportation. Mr. Trump has tried to terminate the plan and remains under the threat of law.
“It’s a long and challenging decision-making process,” Doubin said of retirement. “But I’ve been around the Senate long enough to realize that no matter what your main interest in the Senate is, you’ll always age.”
Nick Corasaniti Reports from New York.
