For many of our readers, the notion of flipping the venerable Dick Durbin’s seat in the United State Senate to a Republican at the very moment when Donald Trump has capriciously abandoned his support for the brave people of Ukraine and climbed into a diesel-filled waterbed with the dangerous Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, would be as irresponsible as it is unconscionable.
We more than sympathize.
And that is despite having listened to the honorable Republican candidate in question, former Illinois Republican Party Chairman and Illinois Gaming Commission Chair Don Tracy, make a noble attempt in our boardroom this week to separate himself as far as possible from the mercurial acts of the president of the United States, acts that seem to have accelerated in their folly over the last several weeks. At various points, Tracy described Trump as a “narcissist” and even said that he could not stand the man, at least on a personal and emotional level. “I am running to defend the American dream from extreme agendas,” Tracy told us. “At my age and with my level of success, nobody is going to own me.”
We believed him. A 76-year-old lawyer who co-owns a family distribution business (Dot Foods) with more than $12 billion in revenue, Tracy is an old-school Republican, one of a vanishing breed. A decent man (and wealthy, sure) who shares many of our principles when it comes to the importance of free markets, limited government, a focus on economic growth and, of course, personal freedoms and no interference with a free press. Tracy did not reference Trump’s tariffs with any enthusiasm: How could he? Instead, he spoke of his conviction that America’s dedication to the “free enterprise system” had resulted in “the highest standard of living in the history of the world” and his belief that out-of-control government spending and borrowing are the major contributory factors to the affordability crisis of which we all are well aware.
He also spoke of his frustration with the supermajority of Democrats in Springfield, a frustration we share. As a Springfield resident, he also said that he wanted to ensure that “Cook County Democrats” don’t squeeze out the representation of the state as a whole. That said, Tracy knew to whom he was speaking and described our city as, in essence, a huge asset that was suffering mightily from lousy management: “I love Chicago and I see so much potential in Chicagoland,” he told us.
But Tracy is not running for the Statehouse or for governor but for the United States Senate.
And even as Tracy was speaking to us, the situation with Trump, unchecked by Congress, was getting worse and worse by the day.
Garry Kasparov is a former chess champion turned generally sober Russian analyst. Not so sober anymore: “We’re done with mealy-mouth appeasers and anyone else trying to defend Trump from his own statements and actions,” Kasparov wrote on X Thursday. “Ukraine or Russia? Freedom or tyranny? Good or evil? Trump has picked a side and we all must do the same.”
When Kasparov is laying out matters in such a stark binary, something has gone very wrong with America and its beacon of freedom. That is not Tracy’s fault, of course, but unless you believe this mild-mannered man will start a Republican revolution should he be elected, it makes supporting his candidacy difficult, to say the least. Timing matters. Unfortunately for Tracy.
Julianna Stratton of Chicago, 61, is on the far left of the Democratic Party, there’s no question about that. In the Democratic primary, voters had their choice of the lieutenant governor, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (a better choice, in our view) and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (an even-better choice, although he made some serious mistakes in the campaign). Primary voters went with Stratton, but only a naïf would not recognize that had a lot to do with the massive financial support coming from her chief fiscal backer, Gov. JB Pritzker.
Tracy argued to us that many of Stratton’s positions align with the agenda of the Democratic Socialists and he certain made a case. We were surprised when Stratton talked to us during primary season that she supported a $25 federal minimum wage, maybe justifiable in big, expensive cities but clearly catastrophic for small rural businesses and a policy that undoubtedly would be inflationary. Whatever you think of the merits of her support for Medicare for All, which is a slogan rather than actual healthcare reform, it has been estimated as costing upwards of $40 trillion over the next decade and we heard nothing from Stratton about how to pay for that beyond the usual bromides of billionaires paying their “fair share” as if (a) there were enough billionaires for that to solve the problem and (b), there were some kind of general agreement of what “fair share” actually meant. And while it is red meat for the base to want to shout about abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the hard part is to define precisely what should replace it and what should be done about maintaining a safe and secure border. We heard far too little of the latter.
Through a campaign spokesman, Stratton declined to come and talk with us again in regard to the general election, although we appreciated our meeting with her earlier this year. Frontrunner realpolitik perhaps made this a shrewd decision, but we see it as part of an undistinguished campaign this general election season, a tendency to limit challenging situations, avoid potentially damaging statements and hide behind well-funded campaign advertisements. Stratton has the benefit of skilled Pritzker strategists, demonstrably to her political benefit but readers should understand if we chafe at the controls and the lack of risk-taking or stimulating debate about our shared futures; long-term, that has not gone well in the past for Democrats. We do, however, see Stratton as an honorable and ethical person with many personal admirers around Chicagoland; there is no reason to think she would be a vote to regret on those scores.
The policy of Tribune Publishing’s Board of Directors is that we do not formally endorse in this race, nor that of governor, so we leave the question here to our readers when they go to the polls.
Extreme partisans on both left and right, of course, have a clearly defined choice and will vote accordingly. But for our readers somewhere in the middle, which we sense is the majority of our readers, we’ll add this.
More Top Picks Best Headphones For Going To Sleep With Tinnitus
Stratton is to the far left of her party; Tracy is on the moderate wing of his. But by moderate wing, we don’t want to imply he’d be a Republican revolutionary. And, given where we are at this moment, many will conclude that will just not be enough.
Read all of the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsements for the 2026 Illinois general election here.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].