Peoria Native Raja Krishnamoorthi launches Senate bid at Peoria childhood home

Yahoo

09-05-2025

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A Richwoods High School graduate kicked off his U.S. Senate bid where he says it started — at his childhood home in Peoria.
Standing in the front yard of the North Peoria home Friday morning, located about a mile or so from Richwoods, Raja Krishnamoorthi said the 'world-class education' he received and the 'community' in Peoria 'really shaped who I am today.'
In the audience were grade-school and high school classmates of his. The homeowner of the house, long sold from the Krishnamoorthi family, was also there.
The 51-year-old man, currently a U.S. representative for portions of Northern Illinois, is among several Democrats who are vying to replace Richard 'Dick' Durbin, who announced last month that he would retired after 40 years on Capitol Hill.
'This is the community that shaped who I am today. It taught me the values of respect and helping each other,' he said. 'I would not be who I am but for Peoria.'
His path, he says, started in India, where he was born and then Buffalo, N.Y., where the family lived in public housing until his father finished school and found a job 'in, of all places, Peoria, Illinois.'
It's that chance to succeed, he articulated, was at the foundation of the American Dream, and something that compelled him to run for public office. And the idea of people coming from overseas to contribute was also important. The system that brought him here, he said, was at risk.
'Remember that legal immigration system that enabled us to come here that is now being actively dismantled every single day,' he said. 'The public housing and food stamps that allowed us to survive while times were tough are on the chopping block in Congress today.
'And those public schools, District 150, all Illinois public schools and, indeed, all public schools in the country, are under threat as we have an administration that wants to close the Department of Education,' Krishnamoorthi said to the throng that gathered at the house. 'That to me signals all that you need to know about their belief that upward mobility should be available to everybody.'
The stump speech hit upon many traditional Democratic themes but central was his own story of the American Dream, which he says is being threatened by the Trump Administration.
'And so that's why today I am proud to announce that I am seeking the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate for Illinois, where on behalf of my family and everybody who aspires to realize the American dream, we have to do everything we can to fight, to make sure it's there for the next generations who are trying to achieve it,' he said to cheers.
He joins a crowded field that also features Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and fellow U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, who also represents Northern Illinois.
Krishnamoorthi, a 5-term congressman, said it's about two choices — give in or fight for their values and families.
This story will be updated.
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