From legislation that banned smoking on domestic flights, to his continued push for Dreamers to live in the U.S. legally, retiring U.S Sen. Dick Durbin recalled the highlights of his 44 years of public service on Wednesday while also issuing a dire warning about this fall’s midterm elections.
“Today we meet five months before a national election. Debates in Congress and contests in our courts indicate this next election may be challenged in ways we have never seen before in our history,” Durbin said before the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield. “Abraham Lincoln, in the House Divided speech that he gave here in Springfield, gave a grim warning that the divisions in America over the issue of slavery could destroy our nation. Similar divisions today. The challenge we face in the days ahead could be just as serious. I hope that those of us blessed to live in this land of Lincoln will remember his warnings in 1858 and his counsel to those who lead this nation in our time.”
Durbin, who announced last year that he would step down after five terms in the U.S. Senate and seven terms in the U.S. House, also spoke about the void he’ll feel come January.
“I think what I’m going to miss the most about retirement is the fact that at least during this period of time as senator, I’ve had a chance to help so many people,” Durbin said in a farewell address at the Illinois State Capitol. “I don’t know that I will ever find anything that has such a dramatic impact on individuals and their opportunities and rights.”
The Springfield native, 81, came to the Capitol for a rare joint session for legislators to salute his years of public service. Durbin was first lauded by legislators, including elected officials who once interned or worked for him, like State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, and State Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago. Gov. JB Pritzker also joined legislators on the House floor. Although members of the far right Illinois Freedom Caucus opted to skip the address, Durbin received a standing ovation from both parties after his 23-minute speech.
Durbin, who has introduced the Dream Act during every Congress since 2001, said he’s still pushing for a legal path to citizenship for people who were brought to the U.S. as children. He last introduced the legislation in 2025 with co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
“I hope that you’ll join me in that commitment. It was a bipartisan measure, and it should be a bipartisan measure,” Durbin said. “These DACA people are serving America in so many ways, as teachers and doctors and nurses and policemen and members of our military, you name it. They’re doing all those jobs. They just want a chance to be part of America, and it’s not too much to ask.”
Durbin also recalled his push to ban smoking on domestic flights, including being told by then-House Majority Whip Rep. Thomas Foley, D-Wash. in 1983 to “lay off of tobacco” to appease Southern Democrats. Durbin said his father died at age 53 of lung cancer after smoking two packs a day, and he vowed to never pick up the habit. His battle with big tobacco came to a head while sitting on a crowded flight from Phoenix to Chicago — in a middle seat “between two chain smoking sumo wrestlers.”
That led to legislation that Durbin sponsored in 1998 — initially banning smoking on domestic flights that were two hours or less. By 1990, it was expanded to nearly all domestic flights.
The senator also joked about “one of the most interesting” issues he’s had to face: “to stop one damn fish from getting in Lake Michigan,” he said, referring to keeping Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.
“I can’t tell you how many millions of dollars we’ve spent for poison, for electroshock, for disco bubble machines,” Durbin said. “We’ve tried everything, and we’ve done it, but there’s a major project that’s still pending.”
Buckner told the Sun-Times the senator deserves the same laurels reserved for Illinois political giants like former President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Paul Simon: “Durbin’s name is in that group.”
Long before Buckner was serving in the Illinois House, he landed a job in Durbin’s office after multiple job rejections out of college. He said seeing the senator recognized by both chambers was a “full-circle” moment.
“I had nowhere to go and Dick Durbin gave me a call,” Buckner said. “He remembered me from when I interned with him and he brought me on. It really changed the trajectory of my life, so I’m forever in his debt.”
Tina Sfondeles reported from Chicago; Matt Trunfio reported from Springfield