In what is expected to be one of the country's most competitive campaigns, Democrats are trying to take Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk's seat from him.
But first, the primary.
So far, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth and Chicago Urban League CEO Andrea Zopp have declared they're running for the nomination.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan doubles as chairman of the state Democratic Party. He says the party's fortunate to have such interest, but he's not backing any one candidate yet.
"Not to date, and that's something for me to decide as I move along," Madigan said.
Madigan also deferred picking a favorite in the race for president.
Meanwhile, Duckworth says she's not done reviewing details of the agreement. She told reporters in Bloomington she's far from sold on whether U. S. and Israeli interests will be protected.
"I have real concerns,” Duckworth said. “I don't trust Iran. I think that their intentions are not the best, and I just want to make sure that anything we do in a potential deal is one that can be verifiable, but that we also protect American interests. Our interests and Israel's interests as our greatest ally in the Middle East."
Duckworth is just back from a trip to Israel, where she says she visited the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, among other areas.
- WGLT’s Willis Kern and WUIS’s Amanda Vinicky contributed to this report.