Former marine Kevin Ryan talks economy, border control, ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza while vying for Democratic nomination in Illinois Senate race

The decision by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin not to seek re-election has led to a generational opportunity in Illinois with ten Democrats and another half dozen Republicans seeking their parties’ nominations in the March primaries. In the coming weeks we hope to bring you more live, in-depth conversation with as many of the candidates as possible. Kevin Ryan is a former teacher and United States marine.

He grew up in Orland Park- in the south suburbs of Chicago. Ryan attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to become a teacher, and after graduation went to work in the Chicago Public Schools. During this time he also he served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps deploying to Afghanistan.

When he got back in 2020, he left his teaching job and earned a graduate degree in diplomacy at the University of Oxford and another degree in national security from Georgetown University in Washington. Ryan continued his military service and also worked in the Treasury Department in the Biden Administration. Now he's running for Senate and joins host Brian Mackey today live from our studios in Urbana. 

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Kevin Ryan 
Candidate for U.S. Senate, Democratic Primary 2026