Senator Durbin Encourages Careers in Politics

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) (SFS ʼ66, LAW ʼ69), who is retiring from the U.S. Senate at the end of his term next year, offered students advice about pursuing a career in politics at a Georgetown University event Feb. 10. 

Durbin — the current Democratic Whip, the second-highest party leadership position within the Senate — reflected on his time as a student at Georgetown University Law Center and encouraged students to pursue political opportunities. Georgetown University College Democrats hosted the event.

Durbin said he hopes to inspire students to seek out careers in the Senate.

“I think, if they hear my story, they’ll realize that a lot of hard work and a lot of good luck gave me an opportunity to do something which is fairly unique: I served longer in the United States Senate than any other person ever elected in Illinois,” Durbin said at the event. “I never dreamed that was going to happen because I lost my first three elections.”

Durbin, who was first elected to one of Illinois’s Senate seats in 1997 and later elected Democratic Whip in 2005, served seven terms in the U.S House of Representatives prior to his position in the Senate. 

Throughout his tenure, Durbin was influential in the passage of consequential legislation for Illinois and the nation as a whole. He was the first senator to introduce the DREAM Act in Congress, which paved the way for so-called “dreamers,” or children of undocumented immigrants who grew up in the United States, to gain a pathway to citizenship through the executive Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. 

Additionally, he was instrumental in confirming Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022, serving as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time of her nomination. For Illinois, he worked to renew transportation infrastructure and expand Amtrak’s reach within the state.

Durbin said serving as the Senate Democratic Whip allowed him to connect with senators of different states, interests and political affiliations. 

“It’s a strange job,” Durbin said. “A whip is supposed to persuade members to vote what the leadership wants them to vote. Sometimes it’s easy, and sometimes it’s impossible.”

 “You’ve got to realize that, even if a senator is disappointing you in the day, tomorrow’s another day, tomorrow’s another issue, tomorrow’s another world, so you don’t want to burn bridges,” Durbin added. 

Durbin also touched on the issues dominating national politics, saying the recent actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, are concerning.

“To think that this is happening in America — it’s just baffling to me that we’ve reached this point in history,” Durbin said. “I’ve been in several places in Chicago where I’ve seen these ICE agents at work and it’s horrible. It’s not just policing, it’s a military force. It’s a secret police force, a military force, as far as that.”

Chloe Barter (CAS ’28), who attended the event, said it is important for politicians to show students that the legislative process can be effective.

“I think it restores a lot of my hope in democracy to see that there are capable people,” Barter told The Hoya. “I think Congress gets a bad rep, so it’s nice to see that they can be really eloquent and that they care about the constituents.”

Zach Krivonak (CAS ’29), GUCD’s campaigning director, said that it is important for students to engage with speakers through opportunities like this. 

“I hope they’ll take away that, one day, they could find themselves in Senator Durbin’s shoes, and realize that senators are not that different from any of us,” Krivonak told The Hoya.

 Durbin said he wants to demonstrate to students that a career in politics is tangible.

“If they’re interested, I hope they’re going to realize that this is within their grasp,” Durbin said. “This is not beyond them, and I’ll tell them exactly how to do it.”