Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, secured yet another important endorsement in his run for the US Senate – Former Lieutenant Governor of Illinois Sheila Simon who announced her her support for the Indian American candidate in a video released December 1, 2025.
“Raja is the kind of leader who listens to and fights for every Illinois community, not just the ones closest to Chicago,” said Former Lt. Governor Simon. “Raja is ready to not just represent the state of Illinois, but to be the kind of national leader we need right now. He is primed to step into the traditions of some amazing U.S. Senators — Dick Durbin, Barack Obama, and my favorite, my dad.”
Simon served as Illinois’s 46th Lieutenant Governor from 2011 to 2015, where she led on key issues including education policy and securing funding for rape crisis centers. Her public service career includes four years as a Jackson County prosecutor, four years on the Carbondale City Council, and service on the Illinois Reform Commission. Today, she serves as Acting Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Law at the Southern Illinois Simmons School of Law. She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator Paul Simon, who represented Illinois from 1985 to 1997.
Krishnamoorthi praised Simon saying she “has spent her career fighting for justice and standing up for communities too often pushed to the margins, and I am honored to have earned her endorsement in this race.”
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Simon’s endorsement strengthens Krishnamoorthi’s candidacy. A son of Peoria, Illinois, Krishnamoorthi is currently on a “listening tour” of his state and has the Quad Cities, Rockford, Petersburg, Bloomington, Springfield, East Alton, and more. At the tour’s Carbondale stop, former Lt. Governor Simon hosted Raja in her family’s home, bringing friends, students, and community members together to meet directly with him.
Simon’s endorsement builds on the campaign’s downstate momentum driven by a broad coalition of local leaders and a growing list of current and former elected officials, including Congressman Phil Hare (IL-17), State Representative Sharon Chung, as well as trusted local leaders, including Mason County Democratic Chair Jay Briney, Madison County Democratic Chair Andy Asadorian & Pope County Democratic Chair Sandra Cummings.