Juliana Stratton (née Wiggins; born September 8, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician, serving as the 48th lieutenant governor of Illinois since 2019. She previously served as a Democratic member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

from 2017 to 2019. She is the first African-American woman to become Illinois' lieutenant governor, and the state's fourth woman lieutenant governor overall, after

Corinne Wood Corinne J. Wood (May 28, 1954 – May 18, 2021) served as the 44th Lieutenant Governor of the US state of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois and Loyola University School of Law, Wood wa ...

Sheila Simon Sheila J. Simon (born March 13, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, from 2011 to 2015. In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for Illinois State Comptroller, losing to Republican incumbent Jud ...

, and

Evelyn Sanguinetti Evelyn Sanguinetti (née Pacino; born November 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th lieutenant governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. She previously served on the Wheaton City Council. Sanguinetti announced her ...

Early life and education

Stratton was born to a schoolteacher mother and doctor father, and raised in the South Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where she attended

Kenwood Academy Kenwood Academy (also known as Kenwood Academy High School and formerly known as Kenwood High School) is a comprehensive public high school and magnet middle school located in the Hyde Park– Kenwood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Il ...

. Stratton earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from the

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universi ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

Earlier career

Juliana Stratton started her own consulting firm focused on alternative dispute resolution and served as a mediator, arbitrator and administrative law judge for several government agencies. Stratton previously served as the director for the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

, Executive Director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, and as a Deputy Hearing Commissioner for the City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection, all with a focus on improving public safety and building stronger communities. She was also a founding board member of the Chicago's Children's Advocacy Center and served the Board of Directors of the Juvenile Protective Association.

Illinois House of Representatives

In 2016, Stratton challenged

Ken Dunkin Kenneth Dunkin (born February 12, 1966), commonly known as Ken Dunkin, is an American politician. He is currently an appointed member of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners. Dunkin previously served as a Democrat ...

for the fifth district seat in the

. She received an endorsement from President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, as well as support from several unions due to her support for "child care, labor, and home care". In March 2016, she defeated Dunkin decisively, with 68% of the vote, in a primary race noted to be one of the most expensive in Illinois, with a total of $6 million in contributions for the candidates. By August 2017, she had led 25 bills, with 9 appearing before Governor

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...

, and served on several committees.

Lieutenant Governor of Illinois

On August 9, 2017, Stratton was announced as

J. B. Pritzker Jay Robert "J. B." Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and politician serving as the List of governors of Illinois, 43rd governor of Illinois since 2019. A member of the wealthy Pritzker fami ...

's running mate in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She cited

early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equivale ...

and women's reproductive rights as two of her priorities, with

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in Criminal justice, criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any poi ...

as another. As of November 7, 2018, she was elected to the position of Lieutenant Governor of Illinois with her and Pritzker defeating

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbents

and

. Accordingly, she resigned from the Illinois House of Representatives effective December 31, 2018.

Lamont Robinson Lamont J. Robinson Jr. is an American insurance agent, educator, and politician who is a Democratic State representative of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 5th district. The Chicago-based district includes all or parts of the Near ...

, the winner of the 2020 general election, was appointed by local Democratic leaders and sworn into office on January 2, 2019. Since taking office, Stratton has spearheaded the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative and chairs the Illinois Council on Women and Girls, The Governor's Rural Affairs Council, the Military and Economic Development Council, and the Illinois River Coordinating Council. In July 2021, Pritzker and Stratton announced that they would both be running for re-election in 2022. On November 8, 2022, Pritzker and Stratton won re-election in a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

, defeating Republican challengers

Darren Bailey Darren Bailey (born March 17, 1966) is an American far-right politician who was a Republican member of the Illinois Senate for the 55th district. Previously, he was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 109th district in So ...

and

Stephanie Trussell The 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Illinois, concurrently with the 2022 Illinois general election. Gubernatorial candidates ran on tickets with candidates for lieutenant governor. T ...

Personal life

Stratton is married and is the mother of four daughters and lives in Bronzeville. She cites her hobby of running

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

s as giving her the discipline needed for the rigors of campaigning. In Chicago, she is a member of the

Chicago Bar Association Founded in 1874, the Chicago Bar Association (CBA) is a voluntary bar association with over 20,000 members. Like other bar associations, it concerns itself with professional ethics, networking among members, and continuing legal education. It is ...

and the city's chapter of

Jack and Jill of America Jack and Jill of America is a leadership organization formed during the Great Depression. It was formed in 1938 by African American mothers to bring together children in a social and cultural environment. It is headquartered in Washington, D. ...

. Stratton was among the first customers to purchase

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

when Illinois began recreational sale of the drug on January 1, 2020.

References

External links

Government website
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, Juliana 1965 births African-American state legislators in Illinois African-American people in Illinois politics DePaul University College of Law alumni Lieutenant Governors of Illinois Living people Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Politicians from Chicago University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women