By A.J. Harris

Before she was sworn in for her freshman term as a State Representative, newly-elected Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) has already announced plans to run for Senator Dick Durban’s seat in 2020.

While Durbin hasn’t officially announced his intent to run for re-election, he recently joked on NBC’s Meet the Press that he is “raising money and trying to lose weight, usually good indicators that you’re up for re-election.”

While Illinois’ junior Senator Tammy Duckworth acknowledged that Durbin had previously considered retirement, she has publicly pushed him to run for a fifth consecutive term.

“I don’t think he’s quite made up his mind yet, but I am working very hard and that’s my main focus because I think Illinois needs Dick back in the Senate,” she said in a Capitol Connection interview.

Democratic party insiders have privately criticized Stava-Murray’s announcement, calling it brash, foolhardy, and naive, according to news partner WCIA TV.

Stava-Murray claims as reasons for seeking higher office as a possible inability to work with Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) after, she claims, preferential treatment for longer-serving House members, and phone calls she received from her colleagues that were meant to intimidate her.

Stava-Murray campaigned to vote against Madigan retaining his title, which she believes ignited a feud that will prevent her from accomplishing as much in her current position, going so far as to mask her ideas so they can survive the legislative process.

She says she fears that anything with her name on it would not be allowed out of committee by Madigan, so she plans to work behind the scenes and then ask other members to introduce her bills under their names.

“In some ways, I’m a pass through entity that makes my colleagues smarter,” she said.

Durbin won his first election in 1996 and sits on the Judiciary, Appropriations, and Rules and Administration Committees.

A.J. Harris can be reached at [email protected]