MOORE’S SUMMARY: Don Tracy admits that he’s “the underdog in the race” to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. But the Republican nominee believes he has a better shot than anyone at defeating Democratic nominee Juliana Stratton — the state’s incumbent lieutenant governor — and flipping the seat red.
THE RIGHT REPUBLICAN: “I believe Illinois is a center-right state, and that the right Republican can win again statewide, and I do believe I’m the right Republican,” Tracy told me. “A two-party state is a healthier state, and by winning this seat, then I think we can bring a little more bipartisanship to Illinois. I also think that that will give us a strong senatorial voice in Washington, regardless of who’s in charge.”
Tracy and I met at his law office in downtown Springfield. He’s senior counsel at Brown, Hay + Stephens, the state’s oldest law firm and where a prairie lawyer named Abraham Lincoln practiced way back in the day.
In a 50-minute interview, Tracy laid out his case to voters and a roadmap for winning in a state where Republicans have only won two Senate elections in more than four decades.
We also spoke with Stratton in April. You can find that interview here.
TRACY’S ELEVATOR PITCH: “I’m running to reduce the cost of living for all Illinoisans, especially working families. I’m running to champion common-sense solutions in Washington, D.C. instead of just big new spending programs, and I’m running to represent all of Illinois, not just one region.”
FAMILY BIZ: Tracy grew up in a family business. His father Robert founded Mount Sterling-based Dot Foods, which is now the largest food service redistribution company in the United States. The Tracy family still runs the business.
Though Tracy worked in the family business and had a long career in law, he always had a passion for politics, calling it “one of the most important of all human endeavors.”
NOT A SPRING CHICKEN: “I always thought that was a very important thing, and finally my wife said to me right before I ran for state senate: ‘You know, you’re not a spring chicken anymore. If you’re going to do anything about this political bug that you have, you better do it sooner rather than later.’ So that’s when I started the process of my political involvement.”
Tracy ran for a Springfield-based Illinois Senate seat in 2002 as a Democrat, figuring he “could be more independent” with the party than with the Republicans who dominated Sangamon County politics at the time. He ultimately got crushed 71% to 29% by incumbent Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield. He called the move “naive” and said he “found out the hard way that I’m really a Republican and not a Democrat.”
“You really need to align your views to the party that most represents those views, or you have to change those views, and I wasn’t certainly willing to do that,” Tracy said.
REPUBLICAN PLAYER: After that loss, Tracy was welcomed into the Republican fold. He became a regular presence at GOP fundraisers and even ran for lieutenant governor in 2010, coming in a distant third place.
He was a staunch ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner, raising money and running radio ads in central Illinois that helped elect the wealthy businessman in 2014.
And from 2021 to 2024, he served as state GOP party chair. Elected with support from both suburban moderates and downstate conservatives, he was viewed as someone who could bring the party’s often warring factions together. But infighting persisted, which ultimately contributed to his decision to step away.
From both inside and outside party leadership, Tracy’s had close-up view of the erosion of the Illinois Republican Party. He attributed it to a series of “tough breaks,” including the Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois, which curtailed the use of patronage in state hiring, promotions and other employment decisions.
“In the days of patronage, it was a lot easier to recruit precinct committeemen and county chairmen because the county chairmen had tremendous influence over state jobs,” Tracy said. “And a lot of the precinct committeemen were state workers.”
Tracy also cited former Sen. Mark Kirk’s 2012 stroke, which he believed contributed heavily to the moderate Republican’s 15-point 2016 electoral defeat to Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
And then there was Rauner’s 2018 16-point blowout loss to Gov. JB Pritzker, which played a part in losses down the ballot and resulted in the party’s fundraising infrastructure largely collapsing when Rauner pulled his support.
“Normally governors get re-elected, but Speaker Madigan was able to recruit a billionaire who came in with massive spending, and Gov. Rauner, God bless him, I think tried to do things a little too fast in terms of making transformational change, which was his agenda in Illinois,” Tracy said.
One factor Tracy didn’t mention? President Donald Trump, whose lost Illinois by double-digit percentage points each time he’s been on the ballot. And his unpopularity has hindered Republicans down the ballot, especially in the Chicago suburbs.
WIN NUMBER: Pressed on this, Tracy pointed out that Trump received nearly 2.45 million votes in Illinois in 2024 “without trying, without campaigning here and without spending any money here.” Kamala Harris, of course, received more than 3 million votes.
“I think my win number is somewhere between 2 million and 2.2 million, so I don’t need the entire 2,450,000 votes, but that’s a lot of votes,” Tracy said, referencing the amount of support he believes he will need to win the race in a midterm election, which typically has lower turnout than a presidential election.
“I’m going to let historians analyze the impact of the president on Illinois elections,” Tracy added. “He’s not on the ballot this time, of course, and his approval rating will impact the election. But I’m running my own race, I’m not, a proxy for anybody.”
Tracy, who served as a Trump delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention, did not identify an area where he differs from the president, saying he takes it on “an issue-by-issue basis.”
NO PAIN, NO GAIN: On Trump’s decision to attack Iran, for example, Tracy said he supports it if it means preventing the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Asked about the pain the conflict has created for Americans at the gas pump, Tracy said there’s “no gain without some pain.”
“I think only history will determine whether the sacrifice was worth it, but if it’s true that by starting this military conflict with Iran, that we … saved the world from nuclear war initiated by Iran, certainly the several months of high gas prices would be worth it,” Tracy said. “I think everybody would agree with that.”
WINNING MESSAGE? Tracy believes the election will come down to the issue of affordability, calling for lower spending to drive down inflation, an all-of-the-above energy strategy and more “market price competition” for health insurance policies.
Some of Trump’s policies, such as the liberal imposition of tariffs, have contributed to increasing costs of consumer goods. Tracy said the “jury’s still out” on the success of that policy.
“Republicans, we’re not perfect, certainly, and we’re not perfect on cost of living either,” Tracy said. “I’m just saying we’re better on the cost-of-living issue than the Democrats.”
76 THE NEW 55? Tracy doesn’t look it, but he’s 76. If elected, he’d be the oldest freshman U.S. Senator ever. Durbin is 81. And Stratton is 60. He dismissed concerns that he’s too old to serve, pointing to an active lifestyle that includes pushup contests with his 11-year-old grandson and, during a fundraiser at his home in 2023, a backflip into his pool.
“We all age differently,” Tracy said. “And I know I’m 76, but I feel like I’m 55.”
Still, if elected, Tracy said he would only serve two six-year terms at most.
QUICK HIT: I closed with a question I try to get every politician on the record about: Cubs, White Sox or Cardinals? Stratton told me in April she’s a Sox fan.
Like fellow downstater Durbin, Tracy is a Cardinals-turned-Cubs fan.
“I’m a Cub fan, and have been for several decades now, but right now I’m following the White Sox closer than ever because of Sam Antonacci,” Tracy said, referring to the South Siders’ rookie left fielder, a Springfield native.
For the full interview, check out our YouTube page.
