Durbin warns of deep divisions in farewell address to Illinois lawmakers
[May 28, 2026]
By Brenden Moore
SPRINGFIELD — As he closed his address before gathered members of the
Illinois General Assembly and Gov. JB Pritzker in the Illinois Capitol
on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin invoked the words of another
favorite son of Springfield.
“Abraham Lincoln, in the House Divided speech that he gave here in
Springfield, gave a grim warning that the divisions in America over the
issue slavery could destroy our nation,” Durbin, 81, said, from the dais
of the Illinois House chamber. “We see similar divisions today.”
“The challenge we face in the days ahead could be just as serious,”
Durbin said, referring to efforts to undermine democratic norms like
accepting the outcomes of elections. “I hope that those of us blessed to
live in this Land of Lincoln will remember his warnings in 1858 and his
counsel to those who lead this nation in our time.”
Durbin delivered what was billed as a farewell address, reflecting on
his record in office while urging state lawmakers gathered to pick up
the torch for the causes he championed.
The East St. Louis native will retire next year after 30 years in the
Senate — most of it spent as the chamber’s influential No. 2 Democrat.
He has been a fixture in Illinois politics for more than a half-century,
from interning for U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas while attending Georgetown
University to serving in the U.S. House before his election in 1996 to
the Senate seat Douglas once held.
Durbin never served in state elected office, losing a bid for Illinois
Senate by less than 2 percentage points in 1976 and for lieutenant
governor in a landslide in 1978. But he did work in the Illinois
Capitol, serving as parliamentarian of the Illinois Senate in the 1970s.
‘A bridge across generations’
And his influence extends further than that. More than 3,000 worked in
Durbin’s office, including Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, and Sen. Mike
Simmons, D-Chicago.
Several women in the legislature are alumnus of the Illinois Women in
Leadership Training Academy, a group cofounded by Durbin’s wife,
Loretta, for which he provided seed money.
“Think about the arc of history this man has lived and helped lead,”
Buckner said. “He interned for Paul Douglas in the 1960s. He worked for
Paul Simon. He served with Carol Moseley Braun. He later helped guide
and mentor Barack Obama. This is not just a resume; this is a bridge
across generations of Illinois leadership.”
Reflecting the infinite game of public policymaking, Durbin highlighted
some of his top legislative accomplishments while acknowledging the work
that remains.
He recalled his challenge to Big Tobacco in the 1980s, referring to it
as “the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill.”
He remembered catching a last-minute flight that required him to sit in
the plane’s smoking section. “I said, ‘Isn’t there something you can
do?’” he recalled asking a gate agent. “She said, ‘No, but Congressman,
there’s something you can do.’ So I got on the plane, sat in that center
seat between two chain-smoking sumo wrestlers. What did I say? There’s
got to be a better way.”
Durbin subsequently introduced legislation that banned smoking on
commercial airline flights, eventually getting it passed in 1988.
He also touted legislation banning the marketing of tobacco products to
children, which he credited with a massive drop in the number of high
school students smoking.
“Before I rest on my laurels, I will tell you that unfortunately
cigarettes have been replaced by vaping,” Durbin said, urging lawmakers
to “do something about it at the state level.”
‘Proud to be the son of an immigrant’
Durbin, whose mom was an immigrant from Lithuania, kept her
naturalization certification for decades, and he displayed it in the
credenza behind his desk in his Capitol office. He said he wanted people
to know that he’s “proud to be the son of an immigrant.”
[to top of second column]
|
Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. JB Pritzker shake hands after Durbin’s
farewell address to Illinois lawmakers on May 27, 2026. (Capitol
News Illinois photos by Jerry Nowicki)
Throughout his tenure, Durbin has been the chief champion of proposed
legislation that would grant legal status to undocumented people who
were brought to the United States as children. Known as the DREAM Act,
the legislation has been introduced several times but has never passed
both houses of Congress.
“I’m still committed to the DREAM Act, and I hope that you’ll join me
and recommit,” Durbin said, noting that “it was” once a bipartisan idea
and arguing that “it should be” once more.
Durbin was also known for bringing federal dollars back to Illinois.
Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, credited him with securing the funds
for the Springfield Rail Improvements Project, which aims to consolidate
all rail traffic through the city’s downtown corridor.
Durbin joked that one of the most interesting issues he faced was “to
stop one damn fish from getting to Lake Michigan,” a reference to the
effort to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
“I can’t tell you how many millions of dollars we’ve spent for poison,
for electroshock, for disco bubble machines. We’ve tried everything, and
we’ve done it,” Durbin said, then crediting Pritzker for advocating for
the ongoing Brandon Road Interbasin Project.
The reception for Durbin was generally warm, with Pritzker, Auditor
General Chris Meister and three of the seven justices of the Illinois
Supreme Court joining legislators in the House chamber.
Freedom Caucus boycott
Members of the archconservative Illinois Freedom Caucus, however,
boycotted Durbin’s speech.
“The only good news is that this career politician is finally retiring,”
said Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport. “It is long overdue. Every
legislator who actually cares about fixing this state should skip
today’s political theater and get back to work.”
Pritzker’s campaign called the caucus’ boycott “disrespectful and an
embarrassment to our state.”
Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and former Illinois Republican
Party Chairman Don Tracy are their party’s nominees to succeed Durbin.
Tracy watched Durbin’s speech from the gallery, while Stratton didn’t
attend.
“I want to thank Senator Dick Durbin for his long service to Illinois.
We have real policy differences, but I respect his years of dedication
to our state,” Tracy said in a statement. “This seat has been held for a
long time. The question now is what comes next for Illinois. You can
respect someone’s service and still believe it’s time for a new
direction.”
Reflecting on his upcoming retirement, Durbin said the thing he’ll miss
the most is having the opportunity “to help so many people.”
“In closing, my life has been genuinely enriched by helping people from
our great state and nation, I hope that yours will be as well,” Durbin
said.
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.
 |
