The 2026 general election is less than one hundred days away. The two major candidates in the Illinois’ U.S. Senate race are Democrat Juliana Stratton, in her eighth year as Illinois’ lieutenant governor; and Don Tracy, who formerly chaired the Illinois Republican Party.
Tracy has been an attorney for more than 50 years and is currently senior counsel at Brown, Hay & Stephens. He previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2010.
In November 2025, Tracy appeared on The 21st Show ahead of the March primary elections. He defeated five other Republicans in the primary for Senate.
Tracy sat down with IPM’s Brian Mackey on the program last week ahead of the general election in November.
He shared his views on abortion laws, actions carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and how the war in Iran is going. The 21st Show is working to schedule an interview with Lt. Gov. Stratton in the coming months as well.
Interview Highlights
On the war in Iran
“Their (The Iranians) air defenses are neutralized. Their Air Force has been eliminated. Some of their nuclear facilities have been neutralized. We don’t know if all of them have been and a lot of their leadership has been neutralized, so that means to me that they are less powerful.”
On how he would approach abortion if elected to the Senate
“Illinois’s abortion laws are different than Alabama abortion laws. And I think that’s the way it should be. From a federal standpoint, the only abortion issue I can think of is the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions except for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. And I fully support the Hyde Amendment, but I do not support nationalizing abortion law.”
On deaths at the hands of ICE
“Well, I think most of those cases, the people that were injured or shot were either actively obstructing federal law enforcement, or they were allegedly directing their vehicle towards a law enforcement officer and/or they were disobeying a lawful officer command. And then in those, just like in any kind of police shooting, it’s the same issue. Was the shooting justified? And in each of those cases, I’m sure that is the issue.”
On birthright citizenship
“We need good immigration policy. We need a good process, a due process procedure for citizenship. Shouldn’t be that somebody pays a Chinese businessman $50,000 to have a child who’s an American citizen just by making a trip to the United States. I think that’s wrong policy. So yes, I would support a change in the law.”