Stratton, Tracy and Harrington battle for open U.S. Senate race

For the first time in three decades, longtime Sen. Dick Durbin, who’s held his U.S. Senate seat since 1997, won’t be seeking election. Since 2005, Durbin has served as the senate Democratic whip, second-in-command to the party leader, according to Ballotpedia.

The three candidates vying to replace him this November are Democrat Juliana Stratton, Republican Don Tracy and American Center Party candidate Whitfield Harrington Jr.

Juliana Stratton

Stratton has served as Illinois’ lieutenant governor since 2019, becoming the first Black woman to hold the position. Previously, she represented the 5th District of the Illinois House of Representatives, which stretches from the Near North Side and the Loop to Greater Grand Crossing and the South Shore.

At a campaign event hosted by the 46th Ward Democratic Committee in Uptown Oct. 17, Stratton highlighted healthcare access, raising the minimum wage and opposing President Donald Trump and his policies. She specifically focused on Trump’s handling of immigration and the war in Iran.

Stratton said she was motivated to run for office after her experience taking care of her elderly mother, who passed away from Alzheimer’s disease a decade ago.

During that time, she experienced difficulties stemming from government healthcare systems and how they function, Stratton’s campaign wrote in a statement to The Phoenix.

“There are so many ways that people need care, and we need to build the care economy and the care infrastructure to take care of that,” Stratton said at the event.

Speaking in Uptown, Stratton also discussed the affordability crisis and her work as lieutenant governor trying to alleviate Illinoisans’ financial difficulties. Her efforts included raising the minimum wage, investing in education and creating thousands of jobs, according to the statement.

“For the last seven years, I’ve been building on that work — working with Gov. JB Pritzker to prioritize the real issues that matter to families, that make everyday people’s lives better,” Stratton said in the statement.

At the campaign event, Stratton heavily emphasized the importance of winning the midterms as a way to fight back against Trump. She said she heavily condemns his policies, particularly those involving immigration and the war in Iran.

“We must be a wall of resistance to this president,” she said. “We’re not gonna let him get away with this terror.”

Stratton has received endorsements from former President Barack Obama, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, among others.

Don Tracy

Republican candidate Tracy is a senior counsel at the law firm Brown, Hay & Stephens and served as chair of the Illinois Republican Party from 2021 to 2024.

Previously, Tracy was the chair of the Illinois Gaming Board and the secretary of the Illinois Bar Association. In 2010, he ran for Illinois lieutenant governor but lost in the Republican primary.

Throughout his campaign, Tracy has emphasized his roots in downstate Illinois and his commitment to representing residents across the state. His campaign website stresses the importance of serving all Illinoisans, not just those in Cook County.

“With Dick Durbin retiring, Illinois is at a turning point. If voters don’t choose new leadership that understands the entire state, every statewide elected official could be based in Chicago or Cook County. Don Tracy is running to make sure the voices of the other 101 counties are heard,” Tracy’s campaign website reads.

In his campaign, Tracy also emphasizes he’s not a career politician and values hard work from decades of experience working for his family’s business, according to his campaign website.

Like Stratton, Tracy also focuses heavily on the cost of living crisis, but he instead concentrates on what his campaign website calls “common sense solutions.”

These include lowering taxes, supporting small businesses, manufacturers and farmers, reducing government spending and creating affordable housing and energy solutions.

Neither Tracy nor his campaign responded to The Phoenix’s requests for comment.

Whitfield Harrington Jr.

Harrington is running as a third-party candidate under the American Center Party, which was founded as an alternative to the polarization of modern American politics and aims to bring politics back to the center, according to their website.

Harrington is a pastor, born and raised in Belzoni, Miss. According to his campaign website, he moved to Chicago in 2013 to continue his ministry as a pastor. Harrington’s website also states he’s had an interest in politics throughout his life. 

“Two years before the election on my birthday, I had a dream,” Harrington told The Phoenix. “I heard the voice of the Lord say ‘In two years’ time, there’s going to be a Senate race in your state. You have to be in that race.’”

Harrington said his faith plays a key role in how he plans to represent the people of Illinois. He likened politicians to the biblical priests who led the Israelites across the River Jordan, saying priests were the first ones to enter the river and the last ones to exit the river, so politicians should likewise make sure everyone is taken care of before themselves.

Similarly to Stratton and Tracy, Harrington also recognizes the importance of addressing the cost of living crisis, focusing mainly on the increased costs of energy and healthcare — the latter of which he finds insurance companies to be the root cause.

“[In] the system that we have now, the doctors are being told what they can and cannot do, and patients are forced to pay rates that make the insurance companies happy,” he said. “I would like to see a redirection of some of the funds that are being used for premium assistance and to fund Obamacare to be redirected to provide assistance to doctors directly to be able to open up direct primary care facilities themselves.”

In regards to energy, he proposed a compromise between keeping the use of fossil fuels widespread and replacing all fossil fuel use with renewable energy, suggesting a slow transition between the two fuel sources.

Harrington also discussed struggles the United States is facing due to the high prices and current lack of fuel, emphasizing how prices are affecting the trucking and airline industries. He described this mainly as an issue with speculators stockpiling commodities like oil to increase financial gain.

“When we have individuals who don’t have a legitimate business connection to the commodity that they’re purchasing, who are simply purchasing it for financial gain, they’re causing everybody else in the United States and around the world as well to suffer,” he said. “That, in my opinion, should be stopped.”

Discussing foreign policy, Harrington said the United States needs to step back and reevaluate the role it plays internationally.

“America needs to step back, so our allies can step up,” Harrington said. “What that means is we need to stop spending billions and trillions of dollars defending people on the other side of the world, and we need to do it in such a way that it’s respectful and responsible. I say that because there’s a difference between stepping back and stepping away.”

To get more information about voting this year, read The Phoenix’s Voter Registration Guide or check out the website of Loyola’s non-partisan voting advocacy group, Loyola Votes.

All of The Phoenix’s 2026 election coverage can be found at The Phoenix’s midterm election hub.

For information on Illinois elections and voting in Illinois, visit the Illinois State Board of Elections website for important voting resources and information about the Nov. 3 election.