Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin announced Wednesday that he won’t seek a sixth term in 2026.
“I know in my heart it’s time to pass the torch,” the veteran senator said in a social media post Wednesday.
Durbin, who is 80, confirmed what many Democrats have expected for months — that the veteran senator would step aside after three decades in office.
Durbin has long been an anti-nicotine zealot and has often called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration leadership to ban nicotine products that are less deadly than combustible cigarettes, such as vapes and nicotine pouches.
In January 2024, for example, Durbin criticized the FDA for its long-overdue review of pre-market tobacco product applications (PMTAs) from e-cigarette manufacturers, which had a federal court deadline of September 9, 2021. FDA missed that court-ordered deadline and still has not completed its review of vape products.
“This repeated failure to meet FDA’s own stated projections tells us FDA is not meeting its obligations under the court order. Given these delays, and with no end in sight, there is absolutely no reason why FDA continues to permit unauthorized e-cigarettes to remain on store shelves. FDA has the tools and the authority to clear the market of unauthorized products today, yet the agency instead is granting a free pass to scores of vaping products that are harming the health of children in our country,” the letter stated.
In June of 2024, Durbin led an anti-vaping committee hearing in the Senate. Durbin’s opening statement was filled with an abundance of misinformation and misdirection. In a response to the historic low use of combustible cigarettes by youth, Durbin said vaping products were just another tool for Big tobacco to hook kids.
“Big Tobacco would accept this trend and dissipate like a cloud of smoke was mistaken. Instead they rebranded and introduced new products known as e-cigarettes,” he said. “And they followed the same playbook, the exact same playbook they successfully used to drive sales of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes in earlier years — target kids. Thanks to the addictive nature of nicotine, these companies knew — they’ve known a long time — if they could just hook a child at a young age, they had a customer for life.”
Durbin went on to claim that no adults would ever use a flavored vape, even though numerous studies have found that adults do prefer favors other than tobacco after quitting combustible cigarettes. “Let me be clear. Despite claims from Big Tobacco, there is zero evidence that e-cigarettes and their fruity flavors are targeted at adults. None. No evidence,” he said.
Illinois Democrats have already been lining up in anticipation of his announcement, hoping for a chance at the Senate seat. Reps. Robin Kelly, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Lauren Underwood, as well as Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and state Sen. Robert Peters, have all signaled an interest in the seat.
Durbin’s exit also opens up a top slot in the Senate Democratic leadership for the first time in a decade. Many in the party have eyed Durbin’s retirement as a prime opportunity to elevate a younger voice into the senior ranks.
