With incumbent U.S. Senator Dick Durbin retiring at the end of his term, several candidates in Illinois have launched bids to run for the open Senate seat.
Illinois Public Media’s The 21st Show is interviewing the candidates and asking them about their views. This week, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party Don Tracy sat down with Brian Mackey to share his priorities.
Tracy was born in Urbana and raised in Mount Sterling, a small town in rural western Illinois. He attended Western Illinois University, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Arizona State and received his law degree from the University of Memphis.
He’s been an attorney for more than 50 years and is currently senior counsel at Brown, Hay & Stephens — a firm that boasts a young Abraham Lincoln among its former members.
Tracy previously ran for lieutenant governor in 2010 and served as the head of the state’s Gaming Board under Governor Bruce Rauner. He chaired the state Republican Party from 2021 to 2024.
“As state chairman, I promoted a big tent, a Republican Party for all wings of the party,” Tracy said. “And I still do.”
Interview Highlights
On his strategy for flipping Illinois’ open U.S. Senate seat for Republicans:
“I hope to win the support of all Republicans and all independents in this election, because to win this in a state that is currently blue, that I’m trying to turn at least purple by winning one of the eight statewide seats, I’m going to need votes from not just Republicans but also independent voters.”
On President Trump’s immigration operation in Illinois:
“Memphis has cooperated with federal immigration law enforcement, and they’ve, you know, as a result, arrested a lot of gang members and a lot of criminals. They have also taken a lot of firearms off the street. They have made Memphis a safer place … but in Chicago, you know, we have a governor and we have a mayor that — not only are they not cooperating with federal law enforcement, but they seem to be actually inciting resistance to arrest and even assaults on federal law enforcement officers, and so that’s created a lot of chaos.”
On the U.S. involvement in Israel’s war in Gaza:
“I think it’s been measured and appropriate from the very beginning. We don’t have boots on the ground there, but Israel has been a very strong ally of ours for many years in the [Middle East] and continues to be. And we should support our allies … Israel, in defending itself and responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, brutal attack, has done a better job of minimizing collateral damage than almost any other warring nation in a war of this consequence.”
On whether he would vote to eliminate the fillibuster in the U.S. Senate:
“I believe the filibuster is very important for long term, stable government … as a US senator, I would vote to to keep the filibuster. I think it’s really important. Otherwise we have a yo-yo government every time, you know, the power changes in Washington.”
Tracy is one of eight Republicans who filed to run in the 2026 primary.
Several Democrats have also filed to run in the primary for Illinois’ open Senate seat. Those include Congresswoman Robin Kelly, Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton, and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi.