Juliana Stratton beat out 10 other candidates in last month's primary election to become the Democratic nominee for U.S.

Senate pushing her closer to taking over longtime Senator Durbin seat.

She's facing the former Illinois Republican Party Chairman John Tracy in the November general election.

Tracy appeared on this program here last week.

If she wins, Stratton will be the 6th black woman to serve as the U.S.

Senator as a U.S.

senator and the second from Illinois.

Joining us now is Julianna Stratton, the Democratic nominee for U.S.

Senate Illinois.

Welcome back.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having congrats on winning your primary.

Thank you.

You build yourself as the fighter.

Someone who can stand up to Donald Trump and his administration.

What do you think that message resonated with voters?

Because that's what Illinois voters are looking for.

That's what I heard every single day on the campaign trail that >> people were frustrated with what was happening in Washington.

They felt that there was too much of a sort of go along to get along mentality and what I heard from people when I asked what they were looking for in their next United States senator is I'm looking for someone who will go to the mat fighting for me who will stand up and hold this president accountable as we're watching him, systematically attempt to dismantle our democracy.

So this is the message that has resonated.

It broke through with voters.

And and I'm proud that they heard what I had to say.

And they know that I'll be fighter for them in Washington.

President Trump today held a news conference on the latest from the war in Iran.

Here's what he had to say about the conflicts status.

>> Now we'll see what happens.

I can tell you they're negotiating.

We think in good faith.

We're going to find out when giving them a we've given them to tomorrow.

8 o'clock Eastern Time.

And after that.

They can have no bridges.

They could have no power plants.

Stone Age's.

>> Last month the Senate rejected the option to limit to the president's war powers.

What do you think the next steps for lawmakers in Congress should look like?

>> Well, I mean, first of all, we're looking at a president who many Americans woke up in the middle of the or in the morning to see that he had tweeted out in the middle of the night are posted in the middle of the night that act of war.

And he did so without any plan without any clarity around why he was doing so.

And look what we're seeing right now and we're seeing the American people having to foot the bill.

He wants more money for We even see is request for one point 5 trillion dollars and military budget.

And this is not what anyone asked for and we need to make sure that we are holding again this president accountable.

People are asking for health care.

People want their grocery prices to go down.

And that's what this president campaigned on.

And he's doing the exact opposite.

So we need to make sure we are holding him accountable, that we are making sure that we're, you know, asking the right questions and being a check on this president.

And that's exactly what I want to go to Washington.

You mentioned health care and of course, we know you support Medicare for all and some reforms to the Affordable Care Act versus dismantling it wholesale, which is >> GOP proposes.

How will you work to preserve health care for Illinoisans amid federal it to many programs?

>> Well, when I launched my campaign for United States Senate, it was at a time that Donald Trump and his administration was stripping away health care for millions of Americans.

And a lot of people know the story that I ran for office in the first place 10 years ago when I ran for state representative because I was the caregiver.

The primary caregiver for my mother.

She had Alzheimer's and there were efforts to strip away healthcare at the state level by a previous governor and state representative at the time.

So health care has always been a priority for me.

It's something that I'm going to fight for.

I believe that we need to pass Medicare for all.

I believe everyone who needs a doctor should be able to get access to one.

And we're certainly seeing in our rural communities, for example, where potentially 9 safety net hospitals could close critical access hospitals.

So this is a crisis and I'm going to fight for health care because I believe it's a right, not a privilege.

How do you think you can get that accomplished in a Congress?

That is right now very divided us will.

Let tell you one of the things that I heard on the campaign trail that people are frustrated with, they've they're frustrated by this notion that because things are hard to do that.

We shouldn't try to do them that it seems like in Washington it almost gets to a place where people say, well, we have to lower our expectations about what we fight for.

What?

I don't think that it's too big of an expectation to assume that everyone should have access to health care, affordable, quality access to health care.

So I'm going to, you know, number one work with people who see the have the political will to fight.

And we know that they're already some who are fighting for Medicare for all.

I will join those efforts and I will be a real voice to push for that.

And I think one of the things isn't an example of that is my not taking any corporate PAC money in this race because I'm not going to be beholden to those in medical industry and health care industry who don't want to see how a Medicare for all.

As we mentioned, your opponent, Don Tracy, the now Republican nominee.

He joined the show last week where he had this to say about your approach.

>> Their health care approach, which is government run health insurance.

That's what my opponent supports, which which is go will cost trillions of dollars that that's a result.

Health care inflation running at 3 to 4 times regular inflation, in contrast for like health care, you know, we believe in more market competition, more price transparency, more consumer choice and better abroad.

Drug price negotiation.

>> The U.S.

government afford a policy approach like the one that you support and what do you think it's the right thing to do?

Well, look at what we've done here in Illinois.

We have expanded access to health care.

We've made health care more affordable.

We've lowered the cost of prescription drugs.

>> We've eliminated over 1 billion dollars in medical debt.

And I personally led the birth equity initiative to make sure that we address the book Maternal Mortality Crisis.

We have to prioritize and make sure that our priorities reflect what our values are.

My value is that people have access to health care.

We have to find a way to do it.

And we have to look at what this president currently is doing and the kinds of things that he wants to fund that is not about giving people access to health care, but he wants to drag us into another war.

So I think that this is an example of when people want to find money and have the political will for what they want, then they do it and we now need to make sure that as Democrats that we step up and I will certainly be one of those leaders to make health care that priority.

The partial DHS that shut down its now surpassed 50 days.

>> What ideally would you like to see as a resolution to this?

>> Well, as you know, I want to abolish ICE and I believe that's the case.

And therefore, I would not vote to add one more dime to that budget to fund ice.

But look there at a standstill and Democrats have held firm and they've said that there's some demands that we're making.

And I believe that they should hold firm and make sure that they're not continuing to fund ICE or CBP and making sure that we do get the funding for TSA, FEMA and the things that people need that has not been something that the Republicans have demonstrated that has been a priority for them.

We've seen them sort of slow walking this agreement, but they need to get to a point.

And now the ball is in the Republicans court.

They're the ones that are holding up funding for TSA, for FEMA, for federal workers and they need to call Speaker Johnson needs to call session back and I get this boat over the line.

Finish line.

>> You've also campaigned on raising the federal minimum wage up to $25 an hour.

It is currently at $7 and $0.25 where it has sat since 2009.

That's another thing.

How do you plan on making that happen in in a very divided Congress when the GOP your your would-be peers on the other side of the aisle or post a number that high?

>> Well, let's just start by thinking about someone trying to take care of themselves or their families at $7.25 an hour.

I mean, it's not possible.

And I don't think that anyone would say that's the kind of salary that I want for my children or for my family.

So we have to do something different.

It has not changed.

As you noted since 2009 we are in 2020.

26 and people deserve to not have just the bare minimum.

They deserve to have a livable wage.

And so I will do what I did when I got to the Illinois House of Representatives.

You know, I got to the Illinois House and I'm a Democrat, but I got 10 bills passed and that one term that I served, all of them were passed on a bipartisan basis.

Most of them passed unanimously because you to listen to the community work.

The bill educate others on why it's important.

And I'm telling you, even people who are not a part of this Democratic primary who maybe didn't even support me in the primary.

I want to represent them to.

I want everyone across Illinois to make a livable wage.

And I'm going to fight for that.

When I get to Washington should a 17 year-old whose maybe working their first job maybe doesn't >> A family to support.

Should they earn the same wage as a 40 something who does have a family to support and has years of work?

Experience will it'll be the same as any bill that gets past?

I mean, you're going to negotiate.

You're going to look at what's possible.

But what we cannot do is just help people that it's OK to for them to have to work 2, 3, jobs to try to just make ends meet $7.25 even in Illinois.

I'm proud of our work to raise it to $15 an hour.

That's $31,200 a year.

So they're people that deserve, I believe, working families that we have to stand up for to make sure that they can put money in their pocket, save a little, spend a little in our small businesses and the way that we will do this is by bringing all of the stakeholders to the table, making sure we're saying, OK, well, what what is most important?

How can we make this work?

Just like any piece of legislation, but what's not okay is saying that it's OK for people to just.

Barely make ends meet or have to work the 2, 3, jobs just to help feed their children.

It's not OK.

If your elected this would be the first time in history were 3 black women are serving in the upper chamber.

At the same time, there have only been 6 in history.

I think you would be the 6th if you are to get elected to 5 in history.

>> What does that mean to you?

means our voices at the tables where decisions are being made have always said that.

>> As black women, we don't.

You know, as we think about the work that's being done in this country and the important roles that we've made and moving our democracy forward that we don't want policy to just be made for us.

But by us and with us, I think it's a real opportunity to say, you know what, our voices are here at the table that we are force.

And we're we're here to make sure that we're getting things done.

Not just for our own community, but for everyone, but we want to make sure that the voices of black women are part of the decision-making process.

candidate for Democratic nominee for U.S.

Senate.

Julianna Stratton, thank you for joining us.

Best of luck on the campaign trail.

Thank you for having me.

And we did speak with Republican candidate for Senate Don Tracy