{"id":39254,"date":"2026-05-28T09:30:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=39254"},"modified":"2026-05-28T09:32:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:32:33","slug":"durbin-warns-of-deep-divisions-in-farewell-address-to-illinois-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39254-durbin-warns-of-deep-divisions-in-farewell-address-to-illinois-lawmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Durbin Warns of Deep Divisions in Farewell Address to Illinois Lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Retiring U.S. Senator Dick Durbin shakes hands with Il. Gov. J.B. Pritzker following Durbin&#8217;s address to the Illinois General Assembly Wednesday (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The retiring U.S. senator reflected on his decades in public office<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By BRENDEN MOORE<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Capitol News Illinois\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"mailto:bmoore@capitolnewsillinois.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bmoore@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Article Summary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin delivered a farewell address to the Illinois General Assembly, reflecting on his decades in public office and warning that today\u2019s political divisions pose a serious threat to democratic norms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Durbin highlighted major pieces of his legacy, including his work to restrict smoking on airplanes, reduce youth tobacco use, advocate for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and secure federal funding for Illinois projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While most lawmakers gave Durbin a warm reception, members of the Illinois Freedom Caucus boycotted the speech, underscoring the partisan divisions Durbin warned about in his remarks.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SPRINGFIELD \u2014 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAbraham 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,\u201d Durbin, 81, said, from the dais of the Illinois House chamber. \u201cWe see similar divisions today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe challenge we face in the days ahead could be just as serious,\u201d Durbin said, referring to efforts to undermine democratic norms like accepting the outcomes of elections. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The East St. Louis native will retire next year after 30 years in the Senate \u2014 most of it spent as the chamber\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018A bridge across generations\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And his influence extends further than that. More than 3,000 worked in Durbin\u2019s office, including Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, and Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several women in the legislature are alumnus of the Illinois Women in Leadership Training Academy, a group cofounded by Durbin\u2019s wife, Loretta, for which he provided seed money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThink about the arc of history this man has lived and helped lead,\u201d Buckner said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reflecting the infinite game of public policymaking, Durbin highlighted some of his top legislative accomplishments while acknowledging the work that remains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He recalled his challenge to Big Tobacco in the 1980s, referring to it as \u201cthe most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He remembered catching a last-minute flight that required him to sit in the plane\u2019s smoking section. \u201cI said, &#8216;Isn&#8217;t there something you can do?&#8217;\u201d he recalled asking a gate agent. \u201cShe said, &#8216;No, but Congressman, there&#8217;s something you can do.&#8217; So I got on the plane, sat in that center seat between two chain-smoking sumo wrestlers. What did I say? There&#8217;s got to be a better way.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Durbin subsequently introduced legislation that banned smoking on commercial airline flights, eventually getting it passed in 1988.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBefore I rest on my laurels, I will tell you that unfortunately cigarettes have been replaced by vaping,\u201d Durbin said, urging lawmakers to \u201cdo something about it at the state level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Proud to be the son of an immigrant\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2019s \u201cproud to be the son of an immigrant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI&#8217;m still committed to the DREAM Act, and I hope that you&#8217;ll join me and recommit,\u201d Durbin said, noting that \u201cit was\u201d once a bipartisan idea and arguing that \u201cit should be\u201d once more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2019s downtown corridor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Durbin joked that one of the most interesting issues he faced was \u201cto stop one damn fish from getting to Lake Michigan,\u201d a reference to the effort to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI can&#8217;t tell you how many millions of dollars we&#8217;ve spent for poison, for electroshock, for disco bubble machines. We&#8217;ve tried everything, and we&#8217;ve done it,\u201d Durbin said, then crediting Pritzker for advocating for the ongoing Brandon Road Interbasin Project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Freedom Caucus boycott<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Members of the archconservative Illinois Freedom Caucus, however, boycotted Durbin\u2019s speech.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe only good news is that this career politician is finally retiring,\u201d said Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport. \u201cIt is long overdue. Every legislator who actually cares about fixing this state should skip today\u2019s political theater and get back to work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pritzker\u2019s campaign called the caucus\u2019 boycott \u201cdisrespectful and an embarrassment to our state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy are their party\u2019s nominees to succeed Durbin. Tracy watched Durbin\u2019s speech from the gallery, while Stratton didn\u2019t attend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI 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,\u201d Tracy said in a statement. \u201cThis seat has been held for a long time. The question now is what comes next for Illinois. You can respect someone\u2019s service and still believe it\u2019s time for a new direction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reflecting on his upcoming retirement, Durbin said the thing he\u2019ll miss the most is having the opportunity \u201cto help so many people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn closing, my life has been genuinely enriched by helping people from our great state and nation, I hope that yours will be as well,\u201d Durbin said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 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.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retiring U.S. Senator Dick Durbin shakes hands with Il. Gov. J.B. Pritzker following Durbin&#8217;s address to the Illinois General Assembly Wednesday (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki) The retiring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":39255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Durbin Warns of Deep Divisions in Farewell Address to Illinois Lawmakers - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39254-durbin-warns-of-deep-divisions-in-farewell-address-to-illinois-lawmakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Durbin Warns of Deep Divisions in Farewell Address to Illinois Lawmakers - 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