Thank you, Senator.

A career to be proud of

Still from Sen. Durbin’s retirement video.

In October 2020, I was living out of a rented room in Columbia, South Carolina working a long-shot Senate campaign to try to knock off Lindsey Graham. Ruth Bader Ginsberg had just died, and the Republican-run Senate Judiciary Committee had promptly begun three days of televised hearings to consider Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill her seat.

From my perspective, this was bad for three reasons. First of course there were the policy implications. Ginsberg’s refusal to retire during the Obama administration had gift-wrapped a Supreme Court seat for the GOP. It was also bad for our campaign – judges are a pretty good issue for Republicans in South Carolina, and Graham was the Judiciary Committee chair, which meant he got to parlay the hearings into weeks of wall-to-wall Fox News coverage. And finally, as an opposition researcher, I had the unenviable task of watching and summarizing every minute of the proceedings.

Graham milked those proceedings for everything they were worth. He hammered away at the Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act and tried to bait Democrats on the committee into saying something that could be perceived as insulting or demeaning to Judge Barrett. The ranking Democrat, Dianne Feinstein, should have retired years ago. She was barely coherent, and mostly just served as an on-screen reminder of the hubris that had gotten us into this mess in the first place. The first day was miserable to watch.

But on day two, the mic moved to the number two Democrat on the Committee, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. Rather than attacking Barrett, he pivoted back to one of Graham’s lines of the previous day – that the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act had left South Carolina worse off. The video is available here.

Durbin: (58:33) The second thing I would like to say is I'm not going to spend a lot of time defending the Affordable Care Act, although I think it's the most important single vote I've cast as a member of Congress period. But I will say that when the Chairman opened up on it and said what he did, I was puzzled. Three states get 35% of the money. How can that possibly be true? Well, it turns out because those states decided to extend Medicaid coverage to the people who lived in the states and his did not. And as a consequence, fewer people in South Carolina have the protection of health insurance. And those that do are paying for their services and those that don't are not, which imperils hospitals and others in the process.

In one paragraph, Durbin turned a political root canal into a chance to highlight the single best issue for Democrats in South Carolina. It wasn’t a talking point that would go viral on social media, or help him raise money, but it was the best thing he could have done for our campaign.

I think that story says a lot about the Senior Senator from Illinois. Even though he spent decades as one of the most powerful people in the country, Durbin rarely grabbed the spotlight or made issues about himself. Instead, he led with a mix of foresight, pragmatism and humility that’s exceedingly rare among elected officials.

Time and time again, Durbin took the long view, sometimes staking out controversial positions for the betterment of the country or the state. In 2002, when Democratic presidential hopefuls like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden lined up behind the Iraq War, Durbin was one of only 23 senators to oppose the invasion. More recently, Durbin came in for criticism we he took an unpopular vote to keep the government open. Many Democrats didn’t like that choice at the time, but it’s helped ensure that blame for the chaos of the last few weeks has fallen squarely on President Donlad Trump.

Durbin has also been willing to stick his neck out closer to home. He could’ve easily stayed out of the 2023 Chicago Mayoral race. Instead he endorsed Paul Vallas, taking a fair of bit blowback in an effort to steer Chicago towards the less bad of two flawed choices.

Paving the way for others

There’s an old joke that every time a senator looks in the mirror, they see the next President of the United States. If Durbin ever thought that way, he sure didn’t act like it. When a dazzling political newcomer started to turn heads in Illinois he did the opposite – moving heaven and earth to help Barack Obama win a senate seat, and then the presidency. He gave up any personal ambition to the presidency in the process.

Senator Dick Durbin, then State Senator Barack Obama and their wives Loretta and Michelle, moments before Durbin introduced Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Source: Chicago Magazine.

But Durbin didn’t just help open the door for a future president—he spent his career spotting talent and building the party. After Obama ascended to the Presidency, Durbin worked to ensure that Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran and Durbin protégé, filled his seat. His resignation announcement notes the deep bench of Illinois Democrats who may step up to take his place. Durbin worked tirelessly to help build that bench.

So even at a time when far too many Democrats cling to elected office well past their expiration date, it’s no surprise that Durbin chose the better path – bowing out with grace and making space for a new generation of leaders.

I’m sure we’ll have plenty to say about the crop of candidates already vying to take his seat. But I hope that whoever replaces is willing to take the long view on some tough votes, elevate talent around them, and have the good sense to retire when the time is right.

They have a hell of a role model to emulate.