| Issue | Don Tracy — Our Position | Juliana Stratton — Her Position |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of Living | Run On ThisMake Life More AffordableLower energy costs through sensible policy. Reduce the tax burden on working families. End wasteful spending fueling inflation. Illinois has the highest tax burden in the Midwest — Tracy will fight to change that in Washington. | ExploitGovernment Mandates Drive Costs UpStratton's agenda — Medicare for All, $25 minimum wage, aggressive energy mandates — raises costs for every employer and consumer. Her record: Illinois ranked last or near-last in Midwest economic growth for all 8 years of Pritzker's tenure. |
| Immigration & Safety | Run On ThisEnforce the Law. Protect Communities.Immigration enforcement works everywhere except sanctuary cities. Tracy supports legal immigration, orderly entry, and federal resources focused on public safety. Opposes taxpayer-funded benefits for non-citizens. | ExploitAbolish ICE — The Entire AgencyThe only candidate in either primary to call for completely abolishing ICE. Even Democratic opponents said "a mallet when a scalpel is needed." Her own DLGA support org took six figures from ICE contractor CoreCivic — direct hypocrisy on her signature issue. |
| Health Care | Run On ThisLower Costs, Protect AccessIncrease competition to drive costs down. Protect rural IL hospital access that Stratton's single-payer system would devastate. Stop taxpayer-funded health care for non-citizens that raises premiums for every working family paying in. | ExploitMedicare for All — No Specifics, All CostCampaign website promises Medicare for All but is "short on specifics." Independent analysts estimate $30T+ in federal costs over a decade. Rural Illinois hospitals — already operating on thin margins — face existential closure risk under government-only reimbursement. |
| Jobs & Small Business | Run On ThisBuilt for Business. Ready to Lead.Tracy ran a small business, made payroll, and spent decades representing manufacturers, farmers, and family businesses across all 102 counties. He knows what government policy does to a bottom line — because he has lived it. | Exploit$25/hr Mandate Kills Illinois JobsStratton's $25 federal minimum wage is higher than any state in America has ever mandated — double the current federal rate. Even Bernie Sanders proposed only $17. For downstate farms, restaurants, and retailers, this is a job destruction mandate. |
| Representation | Run On ThisA Senator for All 102 CountiesBorn in Urbana. Raised in Mt. Sterling. Family in Springfield. Tracy has represented clients and led civic organizations across every region of Illinois. When Durbin retires, every statewide official will be from Cook County — except Tracy. | ExploitChicago Machine Through and ThroughA South Side native whose political career was made possible by Chicago billionaire JB Pritzker — who spent $5M+ to elect her. Won her primary almost entirely in Chicago. Downstate Illinois is an afterthought. |
| Independence | Run On ThisWon't Be a Rubber StampPublicly opposes ending the Senate filibuster. Vowed to represent Illinois interests over any party agenda. Won his primary without billionaire backing — he owes his campaign to working-family donors, not a governor with presidential ambitions. | ExploitPritzker's Candidate From Day OneHad under $1M when Pritzker's PAC injected $5M+. Pledged to vote against all of Trump's nominees. Won't support her own party's Senate leader. Already picking fights before winning a single vote in November. |
| Energy & Environment | Run On ThisResponsible Path to Clean Energy"We're all environmentalists — but the far left is going too green too fast and it's costing us all." Protect energy independence while pursuing a clean energy future that doesn't bankrupt consumers, farmers, and manufacturers in the process. | ExploitMandates That Bankrupt Illinois FamiliesStratton's aggressive green energy mandates drive up utility costs for families and businesses already crushed by Illinois's highest-in-the-Midwest tax burden. Rural communities and manufacturers dependent on affordable energy face devastating cost spikes. |
Stratton didn't just campaign against Trump's use of ICE — she became the only candidate in either party's primary to call for abolishing the agency entirely. When a CBS journalist pressed that the call was "a mallet when a scalpel is needed," she doubled down: "This ICE cannot be reformed."
Meanwhile, the Democratic organization supporting her campaign accepted a six-figure donation from CoreCivic — an active ICE contractor. They only donated it to charity after the hypocrisy became public. This is not a serious public safety policy.
Juliana Stratton is calling for a $25 federal minimum wage — more than double the current federal rate, higher than any state in America has ever mandated. Her own Democratic primary opponents called it unrealistic. Even Bernie Sanders proposed only $17.
For downstate Illinois — where farms, restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers operate on non-Chicago margins — a federally imposed $25 floor is a job destruction mandate. Tracy is the only candidate in this race who has actually made payroll.
Stratton entered the primary with less than $1 million on hand, polling in second place. Then JB Pritzker — the billionaire governor, Hyatt heir, and likely 2028 presidential contender — pumped more than $5 million into super PACs backing her. She won. She owes it entirely to him.
If elected, Illinois would have a senator hand-selected and fully funded by a billionaire with his own national ambitions. That is not independence. That is the Pritzker political machine — relocated to Washington, D.C.
In the final weeks of her primary, Stratton aired a paid television ad featuring Illinoisans shouting profanities at the President. She called it "capturing where people are." She has pledged to vote against every single Trump nominee regardless of qualification and announced she won't back her own party's Senate Minority Leader — before casting a single Senate vote.
Illinois families need a senator who can get things done — not one who measures success by how many fights she picks before being sworn in.
| If they say… | Block — acknowledge, do not repeat the attack | Pivot — our ground |
|---|---|---|
| "Tracy will be a Trump rubber stamp." | Tracy is on the record: running to represent Illinois, not any party's agenda. He publicly opposes ending the Senate filibuster — a direct check on any president. | Stratton is a Pritzker rubber stamp. He funded her entire campaign. She owes her career to a Chicago billionaire — Tracy owes his to the working families who hired him as their attorney. |
| "Illinois hasn't elected a Republican senator in 16 years." | Bruce Rauner won statewide in 2014. Mark Kirk won in 2010 running as an independent voice — exactly Tracy's model. 2026 is a Republican midterm environment nationally. | Stratton's platform — abolish ICE, Medicare for All, $25 minimum wage — is the most extreme a Democratic Senate nominee has run on here in decades. That creates a real opening in the collar counties that will decide this race. |
| "What about the Gaming Board ethics allegation?" | That allegation was fully litigated. In January 2025, the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission ruled the inspector general failed to prove the violation. Tracy fought for two years and won on the merits. | That is exactly what Tracy does when faced with a false accusation — he fights, and he wins. That's the kind of senator Illinois needs. |
| "Stratton would be a historic senator — the 6th Black woman in the Senate." | That is a meaningful milestone and Don Tracy respects that history fully. | History is made by results, not titles. Illinois families need a senator who lowers their energy bills, protects their communities, and fights for all 102 counties. Don Tracy will do that from day one. |
| "Stratton has government experience — 8 years as Lt. Governor." | She has held the office, yes. | Under her and Pritzker's watch, Illinois has the highest tax burden in the Midwest and economic growth lagging every neighboring state. Eight years of experience in a failing record is not a credential — it is the argument for change. |
| "Tracy has no Washington experience." | Neither does Stratton. Neither did Abraham Lincoln when he first came to Congress. | Washington experience is exactly what produces a career political class that can't find the grocery store. Tracy has real-world experience: running a business, making payroll, and fighting for clients across all 102 counties. That is what Illinois needs. |