New York, March 18 (NationPress) Raja Krishnamoorthi, a moderate Democrat in the House of Representatives and a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump, faced a narrow defeat in the Illinois primaries for the Senate nomination of his party.

In a statement released on Tuesday night, he acknowledged that Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton emerged victorious.

At 10 PM local time in Illinois, approximately three hours after polls closed, Stratton was leading by about 6 percent with around 85 percent of the votes counted. Krishnamoorthi remarked, "I reached out to Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton to congratulate her on winning this primary. I believe she will uphold the enduring legacy left by Senator Dick Durbin."

The Democratic primary winner is expected to secure a win in the general election this November against a Republican candidate in a state where former Kamala Harris outperformed Trump by 11 percent during the 2024 presidential election.

With this primary setback, Krishnamoorthi's aspirations to become the second Indian American senator, following Harris, who went on to serve as vice president and the Democratic presidential nominee, have been thwarted.

Since 2017, Krishnamoorthi has been serving in the House of Representatives, where he mounted a well-funded, insurgent campaign against Stratton, who was the favored candidate of the state’s Democratic establishment.

She received support from influential figures, including Governor JB Pritzker and Senator Tammy Duckworth.

Representative Robin Kelly, also an African American woman, placed third in the race for the nomination to succeed Democrat Dick Durbin, who opted not to seek re-election.

Some analysts characterized the primary as a struggle between Krishnamoorthi and Pritzker, who is pursuing a third term and positioned his trusted ally, Stratton, against him.

Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, invested $5 million of his personal wealth to support her in a primary marked by significant spending from both contenders.

A firm specializing in ad spending reported that approximately $29 million was allocated to ads supporting Krishnamoorthi, while about $16 million was spent on behalf of Stratton.

While Pritzker’s financial support for Stratton raised questions during the election, Krishnamoorthi's backing from Fairshakes, a political action committee aligned with digital and cryptocurrency interests, also stirred controversy.

This arose because Fairshake invested in ads supporting Kelly, perceived as a tactic to divide African American votes in favor of Krishnamoorthi, despite him not directly benefiting from that expenditure.

Moreover, Krishnamoorthi received around $250,000 from the Indian American Impact Fund, a political action committee representing the community.

His campaign prominently featured opposition to Trump’s policies, particularly his stance on what he termed an “unauthorized war with no end in sight” in Iran.

He opposed Trump’s Iran War resolution in the Senate, which garnered bipartisan support but ultimately failed.

Additionally, he has championed legislative initiatives aimed at reversing some of Trump’s actions regarding welfare programs.

With increasing prices driven by the Iran conflict, economic issues and affordability were among his key campaign focuses.

Born in New Delhi, Krishnamoorthi immigrated to the U.S. as a three-month-old infant when his father sought higher education and the American Dream.

In his statement, he reflected, "Only in America can an immigrant with twenty-nine letters in his name transition from public housing and food stamps to the halls of Congress. I will persist in fighting for our nation, the greatest on Earth, to ensure the United States remains the kind of country we all aspire to believe in."

His immigrant background resonated with a pivotal issue in the election—Trump's immigration enforcement actions that led to the Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, resulting in approximately 1,600 arrests under contentious circumstances.

Krishnamoorthi asserted in a campaign ad, “I’m an immigrant myself,” emphasizing, “That’s why halting Trump and ICE’s assaults on our communities is profoundly personal to me.”

He advocated for the termination of the Trump-era Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency operations, while Stratton has called for its complete abolition.

With his House term concluding, Krishnamoorthi will vacate his seat, potentially reducing the number of Indian Americans in Congress from the six-member “Samosa Caucus” unless new candidates emerge victorious in November.