UPDATE: Duckworth Endorses Stratton for U.S. Senate, Israeli May Be Stimulus for Pritzker Displeasure with Underwood

From a Friend of McHenry County Blog on April 28th; UPDATE at bottom:

Underwood’s Chances Diminish with Duckworth Endorsement of Stratton

With JB Pritzker and now Tammy Duckworth endorsing Juliana Stratton, Democrats are telling Lauren Underwood they don’t want her in the Senate — at least for now.

It’s ironic because Underwood is the candidate with the most grassroots support and energy while Stratton is arguably the weakest general election candidate of the big names (either she or Krishnamoorthi).

Underwood has also proven she can win tough elections and win in suburban and exurban areas.

Stratton has not done that.

But the top brass has chosen Stratton and it’s happening early to scare off challengers.

Robin Kelly hates JB Pritzker and she’s in retirement age, so she still might run out of pure spite.

However, I don’t believe Kelly would have a chance against a well funded Stratton campaign.

Duckworth’s early endorsement of Stratton further undercuts Kelly.

Underwood might be able to pull it off, but if she ran for Senate she would give up her House seat and it would be a big gamble for her.

Few people are talking about this, but maybe Duckworth won’t seek reelection in 2028.

She has two kids and she may wish to spend more time with them as they grow up.

If that happened, Underwood could start running for Senate in two years.

I am not aware of any bad blood between the Pritzker and Underwood camps or Duckworth and Underwood camps.

UPDATE: Honeymoon for Pritzker and Underwood Ends

In the past 24 hours, news has emerged that Pritzker is attacking Underwood and calling her “damaged goods.”

Politico wrote about it here. 

The original story comes from NBC. 

Mary Ann Ahern is out with a provocative story from unnamed sources claiming the governor’s team is making disparaging remarks about Congresswoman Lauren Underwood in an effort to dissuade her from jumping into the Illinois U.S. Senate race.

The sources are unnamed which could mean

1. It’s fake news. Journalists can use “unnamed sources” to publish anything regardless of the veracity of the story.
2. The sources are legitimate but want to be unnamed for fear of retaliation.

A possible source of tension between Lauren Underwood and JB Pritzker is support of Israeli.

Underwood called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Pritzker opposed a ceasefire resolution passed by the city of Chicago.

Someone on X said Underwood opposed a Ukraine aid package.  I don’t recall hearing about that and have not confirmed it, but it has been difficult to keep track of how much money and weapons have been given to Ukraine in the past three years.

If it is true, that would be another source of tension since Pritzker is Ukrainian.  

The ceasefire issue has been verified. See below.

Some on the left have criticized Underwood for not being pro-Palestine enough, but she is by no means considered one of the more pro-Israel members. Pritzker is definitely considered one of the more pro-Israel Democrats.

Ceasefire Tracker

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s ‘disappointed’ in Chicago City Council cease-fire resolution – Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago resolution backing cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war will have no impact, Pritzker says But the Illinois governor on Thursday denied any rift with Mayor Brandon Johnson, who cast the tie.