The three leading Democratic candidates vying for the March 17 primary nomination to the U.S. Senate agreed Thursday night the nation is facing a constitutional crisis and hurled invectives at President Donald Trump, with each arguing they would be best equipped to rein in his administration if elected to Washington.
But in an hour-long debate, small yet distinct differences emerged among U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Robin Kelly of Lynwood and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.
Stratton repeated her lone call to “abolish” the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, while Krishnamoorthi called for ending “Trump’s ICE” and Kelly, who launched an effort to impeach U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, called for a complete overhaul of the department.
But Stratton and Kelly each vowed not to vote to confirm any new Trump appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court, while Krishnamoorthi said he would seek intensive vetting of nominees. Stratton also called for lifting the current $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage to $25 an hour, while Kelly said $17 an hour was more politically realistic in getting through Congress, and Krishnamoorthi agreed.
Krishanmoorthi was also the only one saying he supported term limits for members of Congress, while all three agreed there should be limits on the tenure of Supreme Court justices.
The debate, held at ABC-7’s Loop studios and cospsonored by the station, Univision Chicago and the League of Women Voters of Illinois and of Chicago, was the second such forum among the three in 72 hours, following an event at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.
The latest debate lacked much of the aggressiveness Stratton had shown at the previous forum, possibly because the rules did not allow candidates to follow up on what others had said.
Stratton, the two-term running mate of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and who is backed by the governor, called Trump a “wannabe dictator” who “leads with bigotry and hatred.”
“We have a president that is stomping on the Constitution, a president that doesn’t believe that he has to follow the rule of law. We have a president, and now a court system, oftentimes especially the Supreme Court, that is rubberstamping his authoritarian agenda,” Stratton said. She called for reforms at the nation’s highest court “because we don’t see the checks we need.”
Krishnamoorthi said Congress needs to ban mid-decade redistricting, which he called a “chaos” that was pushed by Trump in Republican-led states to try to ensure the GOP’s continued House majority after the 2026 election.
“We have to reform the pardon power because he’s decided to auction off pardons to the highest bidders,” Krishnamoorthi said. “In addition, we have to reform our tariff laws so that he can’t create tariff chaos and trade chaos. And then finally, we have to probably amend the Constitution and make it very clear that there is no third term for a president.”
Kelly said Republicans in Congress “have ceded their power” to Trump and need to “slow him down, cut him off, hold him accountable, hold the minions accountable, like I’m trying to hold Kristi Noem accountable.”
As was the case in their earlier debate, the aggressive tactics of federal agents carrying out Trump’s immigration enforcement were a major topic, though the administration has scaled back its confrontational operations in recent days amid negative political fallout following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.
After the earlier debate, Stratton told reporters that Customs and Border Patrol could carry out immigration activities if ICE were abolished, even though CBP agents were involved in Pretti’s death. Krishnamoorthi seized on that comment Thursday night.
“I think that would be a grave mistake,” Krishnamoorthi said. “CBP employs Greg Bovino (who was the agency’s ‘commander in charge’ and had overseen the agency’s immigration enforcement before being removed from Minneapolis). CBP is who actually shot and killed Alex Pretti. We need to abolish Trump’s ICE and revamp CBP and all of DHS.”
Speaking to reporters after the debate, Stratton sought to clarify her earlier comment suggesting Border Patrol would remain in place if ICE were abolished.
“When I talk about security at the border, I’m saying that there should be security at the border. … I’m not talking about CBP, I’m not talking about having agents storming and walking down Michigan Avenue like we have seen,” Stratton said. “I’m talking about border security.”
As for other responsibilities ICE currently handles, those could be delegated to other federal agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, for duties related to drug smuggling investigations, Stratton said.
Hours before the debate, Senate Democrats reached an agreement with the Trump administration and Republicans on a plan to forestall a long-term government shutdown by passing a two-week interim funding bill for Homeland Security. During that time, Democrats said they would negotiate on operational guardrails that immigration agents would have to follow.
“Noem has to be fired. If she’s not fired, then we have to impeach her,” Krishnamoorthi said of his proposal for a deal. “Masks have to come off. IDs have to go on. Body cameras have to go on. No more warrantless arrests. Third-party investigations must be mandatory for all use of force. And, no more roving gangs of ICE agents or CBP agents throughout our cities.”
Stratton said Senate Democrats should demand ICE and Border Patrol agents get out of American cities.
“We want to see not one single dime more of funding for ICE, and we need to make sure that we investigate and prosecute all of these agents for their crimes and make sure they’re held accountable,” she said.
Kelly said in addition to Noem’s departure, the entire Department of Homeland Security must be overhauled.
“Yes, dismantle ICE but also the Border Patrol, also the agency that looks over citizenship and asylum,” she said. “All of it needs to be dismantled and rebuilt so people are not terrorized by their own government agency. So, I do think we do need enforcement. There’s no question about that. But not the enforcement that we have now.”
After the debate, Kelly, who skipped taking questions from the press Monday night, told reporters Thursday that she hasn’t embraced either of the phrases — “abolish ICE” or “abolish Trump’s ICE” — that have come to highlight a subtle yet significant divide among Democrats, “because I’m real and realistic. I don’t just use a campaign slogan.”
The debate came as the Pew Research Center released nationwide survey results showing widespread disapproval of some tactics used by federal immigration agents.
The survey found 61% of Americans said it was unacceptable for agents to wear face coverings that hide their identities while working and 72% who said it’s wrong for agents to use a person’s appearance or the language they speak as a reason to check immigration status.
The survey of 8,512 U.S. adults, conducted Jan. 20-26, also found nearly three-quarters of Americans say ordinary people should be able to record video of immigration arrests and nearly six-in-10 said they supported the ability for people to share information about where enforcement actions are happening.
Leading up to the debate, the political action committee backing Stratton unveiled two new TV ads focusing on her vow to fight Trump and her call to abolish ICE. Stratton’s own campaign launched a similarly themed digital ad.
Krishnamoorthi, meanwhile, announced the endorsement of four downstate Democratic county chairs, joining a list of 15 others who previously backed his Senate bid. The campaign said it was a demonstration that Krishnamoorthi, who was raised in Peoria, is the “downstate candidate in this race.”
Rick Pearson, Dan Petrella
Source link