Mark Curran Announces Bid to Unseat Senator Dick Durbin

Curran served as Lake County sheriff for 12 years before leaving office in 2018

Published Aug 15, 2019 at 2:52 PM


Illinois Senator Dick Durbin will be up for re-election in 2020, and he now knows one of his challengers, as former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran announced he will seek the Republican nomination in the Senate race.

Curran made the announcement as Republicans held court on Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.

“Dick Durbin is part of the status quo that has led our great country and our hard-working families to the brink of bankruptcy due to record federal government spending, record federal government borrowing, and record federal government debt with no end in sight,” he said in a statement. “We keep returning these career politicians to Washington who have no vision of a better America. Their only interest is to tinker around the edges of fundamental major problems so that they appear to be doing just enough to get them past their next election.”

Durbin was first elected to the Senate in 1996 and announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election in 2020 as he tries for a fifth term in office. In the last general election, Durbin beat businessman Jim Oberweis by nearly 11 percentage points, taking 53.5 percent of the vote.

Several other Republican candidates have already announced their candidacy for the Senate seat, including retired police officer and U.S. Navy veteran Peggy Hubbard, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert Marshall, and dermatologist Omeed Memar.

Illinois’ primary election will be held March 17.

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