There is one topic that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was reluctant to touch during this campaign: his future.
If Durbin fends off his Republican challenger, State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove), he’ll be just the third U.S. senator from Illinois to be elected to a fourth term. Whether that term could be his last is still up in the air.
“My goal is to win November the 4th,” Durbin said. “Predicting what my future will be beyond that, I’m not going to do it today, that’s for sure. I would tell you that I hope my experience and what I’ve been able to do for this state, making certain that we receive more federal funds for highway projects than any time in the last 15 years, is an indication that I can be effective in bringing jobs to this state.”
While staying silent on whether a fourth term could be last, Durbin has committed to serving out that potential term regardless of whether Democrats maintain their majority in the Senate. Durbin is the current Senate majority whip, the party’s second-highest leadership post in the chamber.
Durbin’s three decades in Congress, beginning with serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1997, has been one of Oberweis’ main attacks against him, calling Durbin “a career politician.”
A fourth term would put Durbin in a rare class among Illinois’ U.S. senators—only two others have been chosen that many times, the last being 20th Century Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.). The other was 19th Century Sen. Shelby Moore Cullom (R-Ill.), who served five terms during the era when senators were appointed by state legislatures.