Democratic Candidates

Candidate Steve Botsford

Background

Steve Botsford is a former congressional legislative staffer who worked for U.S. Representative Tony Cardenas, where he authored four pieces of federal legislation on topics including worker mobility and student-athlete protections. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s in applied economics from Georgetown University, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and is currently involved in his family’s commercial real estate business managing industrial outdoor storage facilities.

Key Policy Positions

• Lowering credit card interest rates and cracking down on “credit card giants” he describes as using monopolistic power and excessive rates.
• Building more housing and “legalizing” or expanding affordable housing options to reduce housing costs.
• Breaking up or restraining corporate monopolies that raise prices, especially in sectors like food and financial services.
• Protecting Social Security and Medicare so seniors can rely on core benefits while other costs are rising.
• “More and Better American Jobs” as a separate issue heading, focused on raising wages and expanding job opportunities in the U.S.
• Making it easier for working‑ and middle‑class families to keep more of what they earn through higher wages and lower everyday costs.
• “Cheaper to Raise and Start a Family” as a specific issue area, emphasizing lowering core household expenses (housing, childcare, healthcare, and everyday essentials) for parents and young families.
• “Better and Cheaper Health Care,” including steps like site‑neutral Medicare payments and other mechanisms to reduce healthcare costs without cutting benefits.
• “Trump‑Proofing America” as an issue heading, focused on shoring up democratic institutions and legal guardrails so that future presidents (including Trump) cannot undermine elections or core democratic norms.

Campaign Message

Botsford is running on an “affordability agenda” focused on making America more affordable for working families through practical solutions rather than establishment politics. He emphasizes that he brings fresh perspectives as an outsider candidate who can deliver on affordability promises that he argues established politicians have failed to address, positioning himself as someone who understands policy-making while remaining independent from traditional political machines. His campaign centers on “lower costs, higher wages, and a fair shot for everyone” through concrete policy changes in housing, healthcare, and economic opportunity.

Candidate Sean Brown

Background

Sean Brown is an attorney and community advocate born and raised on Chicago’s South Side who operates The Law Office of Sean Brown, specializing in criminal law, family law, personal injury, real estate, bankruptcy, and commercial litigation. He previously served as an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, working in the appellate and child support enforcement units before moving to the juvenile delinquency and criminal divisions, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dubuque and a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law.

Key Policy Positions

• Pass the Universal Care Plus Act to create universal healthcare, including mental health coverage, through a hybrid public–private system without raising taxes.
• Strengthen the economy by using universal healthcare to boost consumer spending and promote long-term economic stability without tax increases.
• Enact the Immigration Responsibility and Reformation Act to deliver comprehensive immigration reform that modernizes and humanizes the immigration system.
• Grow the economy by increasing labor force participation through immigration reform, thereby boosting productivity and federal revenues.
• Pass the Violence Prevention & Community Safety Act to prevent harm before it happens by expanding access to mental healthcare.
• Establish a national firearm registry as part of a broader strategy to reduce violence and improve community safety.
• Invest in community centers and after-school programs to keep children safe and make neighborhoods more secure.
• Enact the Higher Education & Workforce Learning Act to provide free tuition at all public colleges and universities.
• Make community college and trade programs tuition-free to expand affordable pathways into the workforce.
• Increase workforce readiness and strengthen the middle class by expanding access to higher education and job training without raising taxes.
• Reduce generational debt by eliminating tuition costs at public colleges, universities, community colleges, and trade programs.

Campaign Message

Brown is running as “a fresh voice for change” and a “new face with innovative ideas” who is dedicated to bringing positive change to Washington as an outsider challenging establishment Democrats. His campaign emphasizes his background as both a former prosecutor who sought justice for Cook County residents and a community advocate who understands the needs of working families, positioning himself as someone who can deliver practical reforms on issues that directly impact everyday Illinoisans. Brown frames his candidacy around reducing crime through evidence-based approaches, reforming broken systems like immigration to make them more efficient, and expanding economic opportunities and resource access for both rural and urban communities across Illinois.

Candidate Awisi Bustos

Background

Awisi Bustos is a first-generation Ghanaian American and former CEO of the Illinois Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs who previously served as senior policy advisor to the Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary and as Northwest Illinois coordinator for Senator Dick Durbin. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, French, and Spanish international studies from Purdue University, and a law degree from the University of Illinois Chicago Law School, and is fluent in five languages including French, Spanish, and two Ghanaian languages (Ga and Twi).

Key Policy Positions

• Reimagine Education – Fix what’s broken and give every child a real shot.
• Restore Truth – Bring honesty and transparency back to politics.
• Foreign Policy with Integrity – Ensure U.S. foreign policy reflects our core values: equality, justice, and democracy—at home and abroad.
• ​Invest in Opportunity – Expand funding for public colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeships to open more doors after graduation.
• Fund Schools Fairly – Ensure every district—rural, urban, or suburban—receives the resources it needs to thrive.
• Modernize the Classroom – Equip schools with up-to-date technology, digital literacy tools, and real-world career readiness programs.
• Respect and Support Educators – Raise teacher pay, invest in ongoing training, and restore the dignity of the profession.
• Strengthen STEM Education – Expand STEM and coding programs in K–12 schools to prepare the next generation for high-tech careers.
• Empower Civic Engagement – Make it easier for citizens to participate in local decision-making and hold leaders accountable.
• Shine a Light on Spending – Implement real-time transparency tools so every dollar spent is visible to the public.
• Champion National Reform – Fight for tough ethics laws and anti-corruption measures at the federal level.
• Future-Proof Jobs – Prepare our kids and communities for the AI era and beyond.
• Close the Digital Divide – Deliver universal broadband so every household can connect, learn, and compete.
• Invest in Workforce Innovation – Launch a National Workforce Innovation Fund to train workers in AI, robotics, cybersecurity, and emerging tech.
• Reskill, Don’t Replace – Incentivize industries to retrain workers instead of phasing them out.
• Responsible AI Policy – Lead on AI regulation that balances innovation with safety and protects the rights of all Illinoisans.
• Make Housing Affordable – Expand access through federal grants, smarter zoning, and support for first-time buyers.
• Lower Healthcare Costs – Cut prescription drug prices and protect access to affordable, high-quality care.
• Support Working Families – Fight for paid family leave, universal childcare, and stronger protections for workers.
• Smart Economic Policy – Support immigration reform that honors labor, strengthens agriculture, and creates shared success for Illinois businesses and immigrant families.
• Common-Sense Gun Reform – Enforce strong, sensible gun laws and invest in community-based safety programs.
• Invest in People – Radically invest in Illinois’ youth, families, and neighborhoods to break cycles of poverty and violence.

Campaign Message

Bustos is running on a platform of “radical dreaming” that emphasizes bringing bold ideas and fresh leadership to Washington, focused on creating opportunities for those who need them most. Her campaign centers on her extensive experience in public service and youth advocacy, drawing from her background growing up in diplomatic communities across multiple countries and her work connecting vulnerable populations to resources through government and nonprofit sectors. She positions herself as someone who understands both the policy-making process from her time working for Senator Durbin and state government, and the real-world challenges facing Illinois families through her leadership of youth development programs and human rights work.

Candidate Jonathan Dean

Background

Jonathan Dean is a lawyer, solar entrepreneur, and political activist who has spent his career in complex civil litigation while building a rooftop solar business on Chicago homes and small businesses. He describes himself as a father of young children whose concern about rising inequality and Washington’s failure to address it pushed him into the Senate race, after years of grassroots political involvement and advocacy for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Key Policy Positions

• Lower the Cost of Living – Hold big corporations accountable for post‑Covid price hikes so families can afford everyday essentials again.
• Raise the Minimum Wage – Increase the federal minimum wage to 20 dollars per hour so paychecks keep up with the real cost of living.
• Put Prices Down; Wages Up – Stop an economy where prices soar, wages lag, and only the top 1 percent wins.
• Expand Economic Opportunity – Boost grants and incentives for emerging small businesses, especially downstate and in underprivileged communities.
• Revitalize Local Communities – Encourage businesses to move back into disinvested areas and start hiring again.
• Make Housing Affordable – Rapidly expand housing supply, cut red tape, block corporate housing speculation, and help first‑time buyers get into homes.
• Tax the Billionaires – Restore higher marginal tax rates on the top 1 percent to rebuild infrastructure, schools, and a strong middle class.
• Guarantee Health Care – Enact Medicare for All to provide baseline health coverage for everyone while allowing supplemental private plans.
• Invest in Public Education – Increase funding for early childhood and K–12 schools, especially in underfunded communities.
• Support Students and Schools – Hire more teachers, counselors, librarians, and social workers so vulnerable youth get the support they need.
• Build Renewable Energy – Scale up solar and wind to lower energy bills, strengthen energy security, and restore clean‑energy tax credits.
• Tackle College Costs – Confront runaway higher‑education inflation, rein in excessive salaries and spending, and reduce student debt burdens.
• Strengthen Unions – Pass the PRO Act and protect workers’ right to organize as a cornerstone of rebuilding the middle class.
• Protect Personal Freedom – Defend the right to make private decisions about reproductive care, medical care, trans care, birth control, and family planning.
• Stand Up for Diversity – Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion as core Democratic values and oppose efforts to marginalize diverse perspectives.

Campaign Message

Dean is running as a new style, progressive Democrat who argues that establishment Democratic leaders have failed to confront Republicans effectively or sell a bold economic agenda, and that voters need a new generation of leaders with political courage. His core message is that Democrats must once again be the party that fights unapologetically for working and middle‑class people through aggressive tax reform, tackling affordability crises, and standing up to corporate and ultra‑wealthy interests that he believes have captured economic policy. He presents himself as an outsider to elected office but an insider to the real‑world stakes, balancing family life, work, and activism, who will prioritize ordinary Illinoisans over party insiders in Washington.

Candidate Adam Delgado

Background

Adam Delgado is a retired federal law enforcement officer with over 30 years of service in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and previously served nine years as a Chicago police officer. Born and raised in Sterling, Illinois, in a “hardworking, lower-income household,” he is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Key Policy Positions

• Economic stability and opportunity – Promote sustainable growth through small business support, tax fairness, and job creation in emerging industries.
• Strengthening healthcare access – Expand affordable, patient‑first healthcare with lower costs and better services in underserved communities.
• Protecting constitutional rights – Safeguard core freedoms and ensure all policies respect individual rights for every American.
• National security and diplomacy – Maintain a strong, balanced defense, invest in cybersecurity, and pursue cooperative, principled foreign policy.
• Education for the next generation – Improve school resources, support teachers, and expand affordable paths to college and vocational training.
• Climate and energy innovation – Support clean energy and sustainable resource use while preserving economic vitality.
• Smart, fair immigration policy – Back controlled immigration that pairs compassion with security and consistent enforcement of the law.
• Fiscal responsibility – Reduce national debt responsibly to protect long‑term economic stability.
• Protecting reproductive rights – Remain firmly pro‑choice so women retain autonomy over healthcare decisions.
• Ending harmful trade barriers – Oppose most tariffs that increase costs for American families.
• Preserving essential benefits – Protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and VA benefits from cuts or privatization.
• Promoting peace abroad – Support a negotiated two‑state solution between Israel and Palestine.
• Accountability in government – Hold public officials to high ethical and security standards across all branches.
• Stronger vetting for national leaders – Amend the Constitution so top federal leaders and key appointees must pass rigorous background checks and polygraphs like federal agents.
• Responsible handling of classified information – Enforce strict security protocols for classified material at every level of government.
• Judicial reform – Implement Supreme Court term limits, enforce ethics rules, and create clear accountability mechanisms.
• Protecting whistleblowers and federal workers – Strengthen protections so whistleblowers and unlawfully terminated federal employees are restored, compensated, and honored for speaking out.

Campaign Message

Delgado is running as an outsider and “longshot” write-in candidate in a crowded Democratic primary, positioning himself as a dedicated public servant bringing decades of law enforcement experience to fight for ordinary Americans against the billionaire class and government corruption. His campaign emphasizes that he is committed to practical, people-first solutions rooted in his personal story of coming from a hardworking, lower-income family and serving his country in the military and law enforcement for over 50 years combined. He believes Americans deserve a government that follows the law, protects the vulnerable, and stands up against corruption and constitutional violations by politicians and agencies alike.

Candidate Robin Kelly

Background

Robin Kelly is a longtime Democratic congresswoman representing Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District since 2013, after earlier service in the Illinois House of Representatives and senior roles in state and county government. She has built a national profile on gun violence prevention, health equity, and economic development, serving in congressional leadership roles on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, and co-chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce.

Key Policy Positions

• Tax the ultra-wealthy: Impose a minimum tax on individuals with a net worth over $100 million.
• Raise wages for workers: Increase the federal minimum wage to at least $17$17 per hour by 2030, affecting roughly 22 million workers.
• Make child care affordable: Pass the Child Care for Working Families Act so the average family pays under $15$15 per day for child care.
• Expand health care access: Support Medicare for All (including expanded dental and vision for seniors), expand ACA eligibility to more middle‑class families, and increase subsidies and tax credits to lower costs.
• Protect and strengthen Social Security: Back the Social Security 2100 Act, lift the cap on Social Security payroll taxes, and secure the program through 2100.
• Increase affordable housing and curb rent hikes: Ban “rent gouging,” cap annual rent increases, invest heavily in affordable housing, and oppose large corporate landlords buying up single‑family homes.
• Lower energy costs and invest in clean infrastructure: Invest in infrastructure and renewable energy, improve water systems and public transit, prepare for natural disasters, expand EV charging, and use these investments to reduce families’ energy costs.

Campaign Message

Kelly is running for the U.S. Senate on the argument that this moment demands proven leaders who already know how to pass laws and stand up to powerful interests, emphasizing that she has “never backed down” from gun lobbyists, MAGA extremism, or fights over health care and consumer protection. Her “People Over Profits” message frames the race as a choice between a record of delivering on economic opportunity, public safety, and community wellness versus candidates she portrays as less tested in high-stakes legislative battles. She presents herself as the experienced, results‑oriented option in a crowded primary field, someone who can immediately be effective in the Senate on day one because of her long record in Congress and deep relationships across Illinois communities.

Candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi

Background

Raja Krishnamoorthi is a U.S. congressman representing Illinois’ 8th Congressional District since 2017, serving as ranking member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China and sitting on the Intelligence and Oversight committees. Born in New Delhi and raised in Peoria after his family immigrated when he was three months old, he graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in mechanical engineering and earned his law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, and previously served as Illinois Deputy Treasurer and Special Assistant Attorney General helping establish the state’s anti-corruption unit.​

Key Policy Positions

• Making life more affordable at every stage of life, from childhood through retirement, by cutting the cost of essentials like housing, childcare, education, energy, groceries, health care, and prescription drugs.​
• Creating a nationwide free school lunch guarantee so every child gets at least one free meal a day at school, paired with reversing Trump‑era cuts to SNAP and Medicaid and surging emergency funds where need is greatest.​
• Building new childcare capacity by using low‑interest SBA loans to help entrepreneurs open affordable childcare centers that pay living wages, easing the childcare shortage that drives up costs for families.​
• Expanding support for families through a stronger Child Tax Credit (up to a proposed 4,000 per child) and defending and expanding Pell Grants so working‑ and middle‑class students can afford higher education.​
• Modernizing America’s skills‑based education by doubling federal investment in career and technical education and fully implementing the College Transparency Act so students know which programs actually lead to good jobs.​
• Helping first‑time homebuyers with a new refundable tax credit for the first five years of ownership, while cutting red tape and encouraging model building codes and commercial‑to‑residential conversions to increase affordable housing supply.​
• Lowering utility and energy bills by restoring cancelled clean‑energy projects, expanding incentives for rooftop solar, and broadening access to weatherization assistance so households can reduce heating and electricity costs.​
• Driving down grocery prices by cracking down on anti‑competitive behavior and consolidation in the food and grocery sectors, including targeted antitrust rules to stop mega‑mergers that raise food costs.​
• Jumpstarting Illinois job creation by closing Trump’s tariff loopholes, stabilizing supply chains, and providing targeted tax incentives and regulatory relief for small businesses in underserved communities.​
• Finishing implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and restoring Trump‑blocked infrastructure funds so communities can repair bridges, locks, dams, and transit while supporting jobs and lowering shipping and commuting costs.​
• Surging resources to stabilize family farms with low‑interest loans, stronger crop and liability insurance access, support for export market access, and accountability for federal mismanagement that worsens price spikes like those from bird flu.​
• Cracking down on anti‑competitive corporate behavior and abusive middlemen—from PBMs in health care to monopolistic food and retail giants—to increase competition, lower prices, and protect consumers.​
• Ensuring seniors can retire with dignity by eliminating federal taxes on Social Security benefits, expanding Medicare’s power to negotiate drug prices, and passing strong PBM reform to cut prescription costs.​
• Holding Trump accountable and hard‑wiring guardrails against future abuses of executive power through reforms on executive orders, ICE oversight, court‑packing, redistricting, data privacy, and presidential pardons and profits.​
• Protecting democracy itself with measures to prevent an illegal third term, ban president‑directed mid‑decade gerrymanders, increase transparency and disclosure around presidential finances and pardons, and block presidents from turning public office into a personal enrichment scheme.

Campaign Message

Krishnamoorthi is running on the theme that “at this moment, in this time” Democrats must fight back against Trump-era policies by prioritizing affordability for working families, drawing on his personal story of growing up relying on food stamps and public housing to argue he will protect the programs that help families climb into the middle class. His campaign emphasizes that he brings both proven legislative experience, having authored bills that became law and led bipartisan efforts on national security, and the ability to represent the full breadth of Illinois, from his downstate Peoria roots to his suburban district to his work in Chicago. He positions himself as the candidate who understands that the most sensitive nerve in the body is the pocketbook nerve and has a comprehensive plan to restore the American Dream through concrete policy solutions on housing, healthcare, education, and job creation that directly lower costs for families.

Candidate Bryan Maxwell

Background

Bryan Maxwell is an environmental research scientist and agricultural engineer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved to Illinois in 2020 for postdoctoral work in the Department of Crop Sciences. He holds a doctorate in agricultural engineering from North Carolina State University and currently works at the university’s Prairie Research Institute testing new technologies for producing renewable energy from wastewater, with a background in volunteer work focused on housing insecurity and supporting progressive causes.

Key Policy Positions

• Anti‑war – End “endless wars,” cut military spending, and use tax dollars to make rent, childcare, and groceries affordable for Americans at home.
• Medicare for All – Create a universal, tax‑funded healthcare system so everyone can access care without going into medical debt.
• Tax the billionaires – Raise income and wealth taxes on billionaires and large corporations to shift power back to farmers, unions, and the working class.
• Addressing climate change – Advance real climate policy and put scientists in Congress who understand climate science and clean‑energy technologies.
• Human rights and liberation – Support policies and movements that defend human rights in the U.S. and abroad and seek the liberation of oppressed peoples.
• Rural America renewal agenda – Reinvest in rural communities and small towns to rebuild local economies and strengthen both cities and rural areas.
• Fighting Trump’s agenda – Oppose Trump‑aligned efforts to militarize communities and strip funding from social services in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.​

Campaign Message

Maxwell is running as an anti-establishment progressive challenger to Democratic leadership, arguing that the party has lost twice to Trump and needs to turn a new page by prioritizing working-class needs over party unity and corporate interests. He positions himself as the only downstate Democratic candidate who will prioritize marginalized communities and refuses to take corporate or pro-Israel lobby money, emphasizing his commitment to hard truths about his own party’s failures on issues like military support for Israel that he believes cost Democrats young voters. Maxwell frames his campaign around being an outsider without political ambitions beyond trying to fight for things that make people’s lives better, drawing on his personal experience with housing insecurity and volunteer work to argue he understands the real struggles facing Illinois communities that need federal resources.

Candidate Kevin Ryan

Background

Kevin Ryan is a former Chicago Public Schools teacher and U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer who grew up in Orland Park, attended Marist High School, and deployed to Afghanistan while teaching on Chicago’s South and West Sides. After returning from Afghanistan in 2020, he earned a graduate degree in diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a second graduate degree in national security from Georgetown University, working on assignments across Europe, Hawaii, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Treasury Department before resigning to run for Senate.

Key Policy Positions

• Amend the Constitution to impose campaign spending limits, eliminate Super PACs, and structurally reform elections.
• Replace partisan gerrymandering with independent redistricting commissions.
• Replace partisan primaries with nonpartisan, ranked-choice elections.
• Establish term limits and age limits for members of Congress.
• Extend U.S. House terms from two to four years so members can focus on governing.
• Ban individual stock trading by members of Congress while in office.
• Advance economic justice by shifting power from wealth to work, including strong support for the PRO Act and Clean Slate for Worker Power.
• Expand and protect workers’ rights to organize, including sector-wide bargaining and protections for agricultural, domestic, and gig workers.
• Establish Medicare for All, treating healthcare as a human right and ending corporate profiteering in healthcare.
• Create a humane immigration system: abolish ICE, restrict Border Patrol to the border zone, and maintain secure but non‑cruel borders with a fair process for labor to cross borders.
• Launch a New Deal for Rural America by enforcing anti‑monopoly laws, prioritizing independent farms, and passing a federal Right to Repair.
• Reduce the national debt by taxing wealth over 50 million dollars and closing offshore tax loopholes.
• Abolish the death penalty and make prisons focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
• Lead on climate by committing to renewable energy and passing a Green New Deal‑style program to end dependence on fossil fuels.​

Campaign Message

Ryan is running on the message that our divide is not left vs. right, it is wealth vs. work, arguing that unlimited campaign spending is the great crack in the foundation of our democracy and a legal form of corruption that must end through constitutional reform. He positions himself as a new generation of liberal willing to challenge machine politics and billionaire influence by practicing what he preaches, running his campaign with a converted school bus as mobile headquarters to visit all 102 Illinois counties rather than spending millions on TV ads.

Candidate Julia Stratton

Juliana Stratton

Background

Juliana Stratton is Illinois’ 48th Lieutenant Governor, serving alongside Governor JB Pritzker since 2019, and is the first Black woman to hold that office in Illinois history. Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side as the daughter of a Navy veteran and a Chicago public school teacher, she earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a law degree from DePaul University, and previously served as Illinois state representative for the 5th District (2017-2019), director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice at UIC, and executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council.

Key Policy Positions

• Establish Medicare for All, guaranteeing healthcare as a right and ending corporate profiteering in the healthcare system.
• Fight for a $25 federal minimum wage so full-time work provides a truly livable income.
• Reject all corporate PAC money in this race to curb the influence of corporate special interests.
• End Donald Trump’s trade war and its “tax on working families” that raises prices on everyday goods.
• Raise the federal minimum wage nationwide to ensure workers are paid fairly for their labor.
• Pass a middle-class tax cut, funded by higher taxes on individuals earning more than $1 million per year.
• Restore the Department of Education to protect public education and strengthen federal support for students.
• Expand federal support for trades learning and technical schools so workers can access higher-paying careers.
• Invest in federal grant programs for small business owners to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and sustain local businesses.
• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to protect access to the ballot and defend democracy.
• Restore the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade to safeguard reproductive freedom nationwide.
• Pass common-sense gun safety laws to reduce gun violence and keep communities safe.

Campaign Message

Stratton is running on the message to “Give the People What They Want,” positioning herself as a fighter who will stand up to corporate special interests and the chaos of the Trump administration while delivering concrete results for working families. Her campaign emphasizes her proven track record in Illinois, where she worked alongside Governor Pritzker to raise the minimum wage, eliminate the grocery tax, create thousands of jobs, expand reproductive rights, pass an assault weapons ban, and relieve medical debt for families, achievements she promises to replicate at the federal level. Stratton frames her candidacy around her personal story of caring for her mother during her battle with Alzheimer’s, which inspired her to challenge an incumbent and ultimately rise to become the state’s first Black female lieutenant governor, arguing that her lived experience as a mother, caregiver, and community advocate makes her uniquely qualified to fight for policies that uplift working and middle-class families.

Candidate Christopher Swann

Background

Christopher Swann is a senior program manager at Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization, where he began as an intern over a decade ago and rose through the ranks while developing the MealConnect platform that has helped rescue billions of pounds of food for people facing hunger. A deacon deeply involved in Chicago’s South Side Roseland Community, he is a DePaul University graduate who founded the Black Employees of Feeding America (BEFA), the organization’s first racial employee resource group, which increased Black representation in management and advanced other diversity initiatives.

Key Policy Positions

• Support Palestinian freedom, return, and self-governance, and back international legal action against war crimes and mass atrocities.
• End all military aid and weapons transfers to Israel and any government engaged in genocide, occupation, or mass atrocities, replacing them with sanctions, arms restrictions, and international legal accountability.
• Expand humanitarian aid and reconstruction in Gaza, Congo, and Sudan so communities can rebuild with dignity and stability.
• Shift billions from defense contractors to diplomacy and peacebuilding to prioritize human life over permanent war economies.
• Guarantee fresh, healthy food in every neighborhood by having the federal government build community-owned grocery co-ops where private grocers refuse to invest.​
• Redirect billions in subsidies and grants from big agriculture toward small farmers, growers of color, and local food co-ops to democratize the food system.​
• Enact a Clean Food Act to ban harmful chemicals and additives from the food supply and protect public health.​
• Create a guaranteed income for families below the poverty line so no one is left without a basic financial floor.​
• Establish a federal jobs guarantee focused on infrastructure, care work, and ecosystem restoration so everyone who wants to work can do so with dignity.​
• Raise the federal minimum wage above 17 dollars an hour and tie it to cost of living so wages keep up with real expenses.​
• Strengthen unions, collective bargaining rights, and the right to strike while ending right-to-work laws that weaken worker power.​
• Establish Medicare for All, automatically covering everyone from birth and making care free at the point of service.​
• Guarantee comprehensive coverage—including emergencies, primary care, hospital stays, prescriptions, mental health, dental, vision, and long-term care—under a single public insurance system.​
• End property-tax-based school funding and have the federal government fund every public school based on student need, replacing test-driven education with real work and skills-based outcomes.​
• Provide free public higher education so cost is never a barrier to college or career training.

Campaign Message

Swann is running on a platform of “Demand More” calling for a just and equitable society that prioritizes human dignity over corporate profits and military spending. He frames his candidacy around his direct experience fighting hunger through food recovery and his deep roots in Chicago’s South Side, arguing that government must reallocate resources away from weapons and toward food security, guaranteed income, and community investment. Swann positions himself as an advocate for marginalized communities who understands firsthand the systemic barriers facing working families, emphasizing that his decade of nonprofit leadership building partnerships and scaling solutions to feed people qualifies him to fight for transformational change in Washington that centers the needs of those struggling with poverty and inequality.

Republican Candidates

Candidate R. Cary Capparelli

Background

R. Cary Capparelli is a geography professor at South Dakota State University (online, 2017-present) and president of OMNI-Communique, a global management and marketing consulting firm, as well as former president of Novus Ordo Vineyards and Winery in Mendoza, Argentina. He holds a PhD in Geography from Birkbeck, University of London, a master’s degree in geography and environmental studies from Northeastern Illinois University, a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Drake University, and previously served on the Illinois International Port District Board (2000-2009) where he chaired the Legislative, Marketing, and Homeland Security committees.

Key Policy Positions

• Make and keep America economically strong—at home and abroad—so prosperity reaches all American families.
• Maintain a powerful, well-funded military on the principle that a strong defense is the best offense.
• Provide unwavering, long-term support for veterans in recognition of their service and sacrifice.
• Ensure healthcare is available and affordable for every American, not just those who can pay the most.
• Treat mental health as a global crisis and prioritize policies and resources to address it.
• Back law enforcement to fight and eliminate what he describes as rampant crime in communities.
• Stop illegal entry into the United States while maintaining secure, well-controlled borders.
• Continue and intensify the “war on drugs” to combat trafficking and substance abuse.
• Rigorously uphold the Constitution of the United States as the guiding framework for all policy.
• Pursue a firm foreign policy that closely monitors adversaries—China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—and limits their expansion and influence.
• Restore and increase respect for the United States at the United Nations, especially within the UN Security Council.
• Halt the rise of socialism in America, which he argues shares fundamental concepts with communism.

Campaign Message

Capparelli is running with the overarching message that “Democrats like misspending your money—leaving us in dangerous and precarious situations,” and specifically criticizes the last two Democratic presidents (Obama and Biden) for ignoring important responsibilities. His campaign emphasizes a Republican focus on strong defense, border security, economic strength, and traditional American values, positioning himself as someone who will restore America’s fiscal responsibility and military readiness after what he characterizes as Democratic mismanagement. Capparelli frames his candidacy around practical solutions to border security, crime prevention, veterans’ support, and affordable healthcare, arguing that his background in business, education, and government service equips him to address the complications facing America and Americans from a conservative perspective that prioritizes strong governance over government spending.

Candidate Casey Chlebek

Background

Casey Chlebek is a computer scientist and real estate entrepreneur who was born in Czarny Dunajec, Poland, in the Podhale region near the Tatra Mountains, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1967 to join his father in Chicago. After earning an engineering degree in computer science from the University of Illinois in 1971, he spent his IT career at three major companies—Aldens, Zenith Radio Corporation, and Northern Trust Bank where he worked for 20 years—before founding C&J Realty Management Inc., and is now active in civic and Polish-American organizations including serving as Immediate Past Commodore of the Chicago Yachting Association and president of the Polish American Congress Illinois Division.

Key Policy Positions

• Reverse the long‑term loss of U.S. industrial jobs and factories by bringing jobs back or creating new ones using advanced technologies like robotics, AI, and quantum computing.
• Develop modern industrial and technological zones focused on AI, 5G, quantum computing, robotics, and automation, especially in the Midwest.
• Make Illinois into a “Silicon Valley of the Midwest” through targeted industrial and technological development.
• Treat China’s role in global trade, intellectual property, and non‑tariff practices as a serious problem that has harmed U.S. jobs and must be addressed.
• Treat the national debt as an urgent, “runaway” problem that requires quick and decisive action.
• Initiate a national public debate on the national debt and bring in financial and economic experts to propose specific solutions.
• Conduct a comprehensive review of entitlement programs to identify which ones contribute most to annual deficits and implement corrective measures.
• Simplify the federal tax code, eliminate loopholes, and ensure that large corporations and expatriated corporate income are appropriately taxed.
• Use tax policy to expand and strengthen the American middle class, including tying reductions in corporate taxes to increases in employment.
• Maintain social programs and a social safety net while avoiding overspending, waste, duplication, and fraud in government programs.
• Protect seniors and veterans from neglect by being “vigilant and proactive” about their social support and living standards.
• Support young families and workers by guaranteeing extended maternity leave and requiring employers with 25 or more employees to provide adequate health insurance.
• Reform the education system to improve academic performance, especially in math and science, including greater support for private education, gifted education, engineering curricula, and expanded 1–2‑year vocational training.
• Approach climate and environmental policy in a way that does not jeopardize U.S. jobs, with emphasis on phasing in job reductions slowly and prioritizing issues like plastic pollution.
• Redefine U.S. global leadership by reducing costly overextension of military forces, relying more on advanced technology, intelligence, and economic and diplomatic tools instead of acting as the “world policeman.”

Campaign Message

Chlebek is running on his “MAGNA and MULA Agendas”—Making America the Greatest Nation Again (domestic policy) and Make the U.S. Loved Again (foreign policy), promising to restore dignity through work and ownership while working for free as Senator, just as President Trump did. His campaign emphasizes his personal story as a Polish immigrant who achieved success in America despite growing up under socialism, positioning him as uniquely qualified to convince young Americans that capitalism works better than socialism and to fight against “delusional” progressive policies. Chlebek frames his candidacy around restoring Illinois’ and America’s economic strength by bringing back manufacturing jobs, controlling government spending and debt, and restoring American leadership globally through strength and fair dealing rather than endless wars or reckless spending.

Candidate Jeannie Evans

Background

Jeannie Evans is a trial lawyer specializing in antitrust litigation and consumer protection who has recovered billions of dollars for consumers and been named an Illinois Super Lawyer, and is a political outsider with no prior elected office experience. A graduate of Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School, she began her legal career at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, later moved to Chicago to join Kirkland & Ellis, co-founded the commercial litigation boutique Agrawal Evans LLP, and is currently a partner at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro specializing in antitrust cases, data privacy violations, and securities fraud. A mother of four raised on Chicago’s South Side in Hyde Park, she paused her legal career for six years to be a full-time homemaker and served as a Christian missionary in Hong Kong for 18 months.

Key Policy Positions

• Treat emerging and small businesses as the core engine of Illinois growth and remove barriers so they can start, scale, and hire.
• Treat excessive red tape and complex business formation rules as a drag on growth that must be streamlined.
• Treat limited access to affordable capital as a problem by making financial markets more competitive and expanding lending options for small businesses.
• Treat the lack of digital adoption among small businesses as a competitive weakness and provide support for modern tools and technologies.
• Treat weak university–industry collaboration as a missed opportunity and build partnerships that share capital, training, and talent with innovators.
• Treat the rising cost of living as an urgent problem and use antitrust enforcement to promote fair markets and lower prices.
• Treat high taxes and unreasonable regulations as obstacles to prosperity and roll them back so workers keep more income and businesses can grow.
• Treat job‑killing policies like per‑employee head taxes as harmful ideas that would accelerate automation and must be opposed.
• Treat violent crime and community safety as deeply personal and urgent priorities, backing effective law enforcement with the tools they need.
• Treat threats to freedom of speech, democracy, and the rule of law as red lines and defend individual liberties for the next generation.
• Treat outdated education models as unacceptable and modernize schools to prepare students for innovation and skilled trades.
• Treat worker displacement from automation as a solvable challenge and invest in re‑education and retraining to keep families self‑sufficient.
• Treat American innovation in science and technology as a strategic asset and strengthen workforce training to keep the U.S. globally competitive.
• Treat artificial intelligence as both an opportunity and a risk, leading on transparent rules, data rights, and using AI to augment—not replace—workers.
• Treat unlawful data collection and surveillance by China‑based tech companies as a national security threat and aggressively protect Americans’ privacy.

Campaign Message

Evans is running as “Unstoppable. Innovative. Illinois,” positioning herself as a political outsider and a “winning attorney” who has taken on corporate monopolies and recovered billions for Americans, and can bring that same energy to reduce costs, cut taxes, support innovation, and create opportunities for families and businesses. Her campaign emphasizes her frontline experience fighting China-based tech companies for illegally collecting Americans’ biometric data and her track record holding powerful corporations accountable for price-fixing and anticompetitive practices, framing her as uniquely qualified to make government work for people rather than special interests. Evans connects her personal story, losing her brother to gun violence and raising her family on the South Side, to her policy priorities around crime reduction, economic opportunity, and freedom, arguing that her litigation skills applied to government can drive real change on issues affecting daily life from healthcare costs to job opportunities in an era of technological transformation.

Candidate Pamela Denise Long

Background

Dr. Pamela Denise Long is an occupational therapist, political commentator, and doctor of organizational development who describes herself as a 7th+ generation American and self-identified visionary Republican since the Obama era with no prior elected office experience. She became politically active over the past four years after what she describes as being “tapped” by Illinoisans to help address illegal immigration in Chicago, and has since spent “hundreds of hours listening to a diverse array of Americans express their needs and concerns,” focusing particularly on issues affecting Black Americans.

Key Policy Positions

• Cut income and inheritance taxes to boost economic growth and family wealth.
• Reduce burdensome federal regulations to help small businesses and create jobs, especially in Chicago and rural downstate Illinois.
• Strengthen agricultural development so family farms can modernize, access capital, and pass land to the next generation.
• Expand and modernize infrastructure (roads, bridges, freight rail, airports, public transit, broadband) to improve trade, connectivity, and economic unity across Illinois.
• Implement an “Americans FIRST” labor sourcing strategy that prioritizes education, vocational training, and employment of U.S. citizens before immigrant labor.
• Address Illinois’ long‑standing pension crisis through accountability and technical support—without federal bailouts for poor state leadership.
• Make it easier to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy for borrowers in genuine financial distress.
• Investigate historical and current harms to Americans (including from mass immigration and discriminatory laws) and recommend targeted corrective or reparatory actions.
• Protect parental rights in education and healthcare decisions, including robust school choice and safe, orderly learning environments.
• Defend women’s and girls’ privacy, sports, and protections by opposing gender transitions of minors without parental consent and resisting “gender ideology” in key institutions.
• Enforce secure borders by defunding sanctuary jurisdictions, tightening asylum and refugee systems, expanding enforcement (including E‑Verify), and ending wrongly conferred birthright citizenship.
• Enhance public safety and criminal justice by promoting effective policing, violence prevention, rehabilitation, and strong safeguards against wrongful convictions.
• Scrutinize “equity‑focused” criminal justice policies (such as bail reforms) for unintended crime impacts and improve crime data transparency and reporting standards nationwide.
• Support the wellbeing and opportunity of men and boys through education, mental health, trade pathways, and fair treatment in family courts.
• Advance health and wellbeing by promoting transparent, safe products; expanding mental health services; refining the Affordable Care Act for more choice; and moving toward pay‑for‑performance healthcare that doesn’t bankrupt households or the federal budget.

Campaign Message

Long is running on a platform of “Of the People. By the People. For ALL the People,” positioning herself as a political outsider fighting against what she frames as “cancel culture,” “gender ideology,” mass immigration and rising property taxes. She frames her candidacy around “real talk, real solutions, real vision, and real representation,” as a non-politician bringing four years of grassroots listening to diverse communities and advocating for commonsense conservative policies that prioritize American citizens, fiscal responsibility, constitutional limits, and what she describes as efficient investments in those most harmed by past government failures.

Candidate Jimmy Lee Tillman II

Background

Jimmy Lee Tillman II is am author, historian, and founder of the Martin Luther King Republicans, a grassroots organization of Black Republican activists in Illinois, where he has served for nearly two decades. He earned a degree from Central State University and has worked as an author, historian, and producer of the Jimmy Lee Underground Radio Network, and is a Heritage Foundation Academy Fellow recognized by Heritage Action for America. Tillman previously ran for U.S. House in Illinois’ 1st Congressional District multiple times (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022) and for U.S. Senate in 2022.

Key Policy Positions

• Oppose “destructive regulations” such as gas car bans, “radical” Title IX changes allowing boys in girls’ sports, gas stove bans, and attacks on conscience protections.
• Defend religious freedom and the “Right to Worship,” citing his role in opposing COVID church closures.
• Champion the Secure the Border Act as part of a strong border and immigration stance.
• Support the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act to restrict participation in women’s sports to biological females.
• Back the Limit, Save, Grow Act to cut what he describes as wasteful federal spending.
• Promote an “America First” agenda rooted in conservative values and Dr. King’s principles.
• Use his “Grassroots Anaconda Strategy” to replicate what he claims was success in Michigan and Democratic urban strongholds like Detroit in Illinois.
• Give Illinois what he calls a powerful conservative voice in the Senate focused on results rather than rhetoric.

Campaign Message

Tillman is running as “the only GOP candidate who can win Illinois” and claims to be the only Republican candidate “the Democrat machine is afraid to face,” positioning himself as a “true conservative warrior” with a “proven track record of accomplishments” rather than just ideas. His campaign emphasizes his leadership of “Direct Action campaigns” that generated comments opposing what he frames as destructive regulations (gas car bans, Title IX changes allowing transgender girls in sports, gas stove bans), and his role in leading churches to stay open during COVID lockdowns, which he describes as a “religious freedom victory.” Tillman frames his candidacy around his “Grassroots Anaconda Strategy” that he claims delivered Michigan for Trump by flipping Democratic strongholds like Detroit through grassroots organizing, and argues he has already defeated the Democrats’ “top three contenders” through strategic grassroots activities, positioning himself as the candidate who can mobilize Chicago’s Black community and build a “MAGA Cavalry” coalition across Illinois to transform the state.

Candidate Don Tracy

Background

Don Tracy is a trial lawyer with nearly 50 years of legal experience and Senior Counsel at Brown, Hay & Stephens, and a son of the founders of Dot Foods. A former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party (2021-2024), he previously ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2010, and has served in numerous leadership positions including chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, president of the Sangamon County Bar Association, president of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and in various civic organizations. Born in Urbana and raised in Mt. Sterling, a small town in rural western Illinois, he earned degrees from Western Illinois University, Arizona State University, and earned a law degree at the University of Memphis.

Key Policy Positions

• Secure the southern border and oppose “open borders,” including stopping taxpayer‑funded benefits and free health care for non‑citizens.
• Oppose “far‑left” social policies such as “boys in girls’ sports” and efforts he characterizes as defunding or weakening the police.
• Restore public safety by holding violent criminals accountable and backing law enforcement instead of, in his view, favoring criminals over victims.
• End what he calls “political games” in Washington, such as using government shutdowns as “political leverage” that harms families, farmers, and military personnel.
• Lower the overall cost of living in Illinois, making the American Dream attainable again for working families.
• Reduce utility and energy costs by pursuing “reasonable” all‑of‑the‑above energy policy that uses all sources while still transitioning toward cleaner energy.
• Bring down health care costs, including drug prices and insurance premiums, through price transparency and increased competition.
• Eliminate taxpayer‑funded health care and other government benefits for non‑citizens.
• Cut taxes and rein in inflation by reducing government spending, increasing efficiency, minimizing waste and fraud, and hiring based on merit.
• Encourage work and labor‑force participation by pushing able‑bodied adults without dependent minors or disabled dependents to rejoin the workforce.
• Support small businesses, manufacturers, and farmers by cutting “excess regulation” and lowering the cost of doing business.
• Strengthen American manufacturers and farmers in global markets by ensuring a fair, level playing field in international competition.
• Represent “everyday Illinoisans,” especially those outside Chicago and Cook County, and give voice to the 101 other counties in the U.S. Senate.
• Bring “Midwestern” and downstate Illinois experience to Washington, drawing on his background working in family warehouses, farms, small businesses, and civic leadership.
• Champion “common sense solutions” and traditional work‑ethic values so that every Illinoisan can pursue their own version of the American Dream.​

Campaign Message

Tracy is running on a platform of common sense solutions to Washington D.C. with his top priority being to lower the cost-of-living for working families, arguing that Illinois residents are suffering under the highest tax burden in the nation and an economy that lags the rest of the Midwest due to tax-and-spend Democrats. His campaign emphasizes his personal story of working in his family’s warehouse at age 10 and rising through corporate experience, positioning him as someone who understands the struggles of working families through lived experience rather than career politics. Tracy frames his candidacy as a Midwestern values candidate representing downstate Illinois, not Chicago and Cook County, who will fight for everyday Illinoisans, not special interests or extreme agendas, and will champion common sense conservative solutions including balancing energy sources, controlling federal spending, and supporting small businesses that create jobs.