Crowe Confirmed as U.S. Attorney
Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) was confirmed Tuesday night by the U.S. Senate as the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. Crowe will likely resign her Senate seat in the coming days.
Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon), a moderate former prosecutor who has served in the Senate since 2019, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. The southern district is composed of 38 counties in the southern third of the state with courthouses in East St. Louis and Benton.
Crowe was recommended for the presidential nomination by Sen. Dick Durbin, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, helping move her nomination along at a rapid pace. She was nominated for the post on April 22.
Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth praised the Senate approval, which came in a non-controversial voice vote on the Senate floor.
“We are pleased that the Senate has confirmed Rachelle Crowe to serve as U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Illinois,” the two senators said in a joint statement. “After seven years without a confirmed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Ms. Crowe has the qualifications, integrity, and judgment to serve with distinction.”
Crowe was an Assistant State’s Attorney in Madison County prior to being elected to the Senate in 2018.
She will resign her post in the Senate and will withdraw from the November ballot, though it is too late to remove her name from the June 28 primary ballot. Crowe told The Illinoize Wednesday the timing of the actions still isn’t set.
It appears Democrats may be targeting Madison County Sheriff’s Captain Kris Tharp to replace Crowe. Tharp created a political committee to seek the seat this week. We’ve reached out to Tharp. Republicans are supporting Madison County Board member Erica Conway Harriss of Glen Carbon for the seat. The 56th District is expected to be one of the most competitive in the state this November. President Trump won the district by 3 percentage points in 2020, while Governor Pritzker won it by about 8 points in 2018.
