Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Tracy today released his first digital ad of the 2026 election cycle, Your American Dream. The introductory ad highlights the real-life struggles Illinois families face under the sky-high cost of living, and Tracy’s commitment to fighting for common sense solutions in Washington.
The video features Tracy speaking directly with everyday Illinoisans: a nurse living paycheck-to-paycheck, a senior forced to keep working at 71, a third-generation farmer squeezed by rising input costs, and a college student juggling two jobs to pay for school. Their stories underscore a central message of Tracy’s campaign: the American Dream is slipping out of reach for too many families because career politicians are focused on special interests and extreme agendas instead of people. […]
Tracy’s top priority is lowering the cost of living for working families by reducing energy, gas, health care, and housing costs; cutting wasteful government spending; and supporting small businesses, manufacturers, and farmers across all 102 counties of Illinois.
Unlike his Democrat opponents, career politicians from Chicago and Cook County, Tracy brings decades of real-world experience throughout Illinois. He began working in his family’s warehouse at age 10, worked his way through college, ran a small business, and spent his career helping families and small businesses succeed.
Don: The sky-high cost of living has made the American Dream seem out-of-reach for many everyday Illinoisans.
Woman 1: I’ve been a registered nurse for the last 2 years. And I feel like I’ve been living paycheck-to-paycheck. Groceries being expensive, gas being expensive… and on top of that my bills to keep a roof over my head.
Don: May I ask why you’re still working at 71?
Man 1: I can’t retire. Things have gotten so tight money-wise. I’ve got to pay the bills and I’ve got to eat.
Don: So, you’re a third generation farmer?
Farmer: Yep. Third-generation.
Don: Tell me about the inputs on farming. How have those prices gone up?
Farmer: Started with a shortage of all the stuff in 2020. And then, grain prices keep going down and input prices keep going up.
Don: Illinois working families need someone who will work for them in Washington, not for special interests.
Man 1: Politicians over the long-term, they have a lot of special interests. I don’t think they care about the little guys out here that made this country.
Don: If you had a choice between someone running for office who is going to focus on and prioritize reducing the cost of living or a career politician, which choice would you make?
Farmer: The guy that’s not a career politician. The longer you’re a career politician, the less connected you are to the people you got elected to go serve.
Don: Who’s paying for your education?
Woman: Mostly me and loans.
Don: So you’re working your way through college?
Woman: I am. I work two jobs.
Don: That’s great. I worked my way through college, as well.
Don: I understand the struggles of working families. I started working in the warehouse of our family business when I was 10 years old. My wife is the daughter of a factory worker and handyman. I will be the voice for everyday Illinoisans in Washington.
I’m Don Tracy. I spent my career working for families and small businesses. I’m ready to take that fight to the U.S. Senate. I will fight with everything I have, so everyone in our great state has the opportunity to pursue their own American Dream.
Working during college versus working your way through college are two different things. I guess Don got over the 15 second ads he preferred while running as a democrat for the State Senate.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:23 am:
So bad I do not know where to start.
I had a long talk with a Republican leader 20 years ago.
What I said was “If Republicans cannot figure out how to run better campaigns than you did for Topinka, Democrats will never elect anyone better than Rod Blagojevich.”
The state of the Illinois GOP is so bad now that Democrats can sit on their couch and laugh.
It is so bad that Republicans in Cook County have decided they are better off running as Democrats.
That will be happening in Lake and DuPage County within the decade as well.
The result is that Democrats do not have to evolve new ideas, engage new voters, or really even worry about being accountable for doing their basic jobs.
D. I understand that affordability is the zeitgeist right now, but the GOP has a trifecta in Washington. There’s no way for a wannabe congressional Republican to make this argument without implicitly pointing the finger at his own party. And Tracy doesn’t offer anything he’d do differently.
It’s a really solid ad, I’d give it an A-. Makes him relatable; it doesn’t feel like a cut-and-paste ad. There was clearly some actual thought put into the message.
Will this matter on EDay in November? No. But ad wise it’s really something to be proud of and the type of track IL Republican party wants to leave its MAGA era. Not holding my breath, but that’s another discussion.
This was a good ad, but I must say about the college section. He says it’s good she worked through college to pay for it, but that’s not all. She has loans. He didn’t acknowledge the student loans. They didn’t need that back in Don’s day. Funnily enough, student loans were created right at the same time of the Civil Rights Act and Blacks were allowed to college. It’s shameful no one wants to tackle it. Well, Biden tried.
It’s a pretty good ad, but it’s ironic that the problems the featured people have are due to the policies of the current Republican administration. What will Don Tracy do differently than the Republican sycophants currently in Congress? This ad implies he will look out for the little guy, but his party consistently and unabashedly looks out for the rich, white guy.
Don: Who’s paying for your education?
Woman: Mostly me and loans.
Don: So you’re working your way through college?
Woman: I am. I work two jobs.
Don: That’s great. I worked my way through college, as well.
===
Not sure saying it’s “great” to being overworked and in debt is the best pitch to working folks. But there will be people who (the kind who don’t “pay attention to politics”) will probably like this, because of the safe, familiar trope of “things are expensive and a straight-talking outsider who works for the people can fix it” and that’ll be good enough for them.
I would give it a C but all the people in this ad don’t seem genuine at all, especially Tracy.
Trump tariffs have cost the average household $1,000. But tell us more about the high cost of living and the struggles of working families. The Tracy family couldn’t be more out of touch.
The contrast of Tracy’s well put together ad with the loud angry fighting ads from the other senate candidates (ads which are dominating the airwaves yet are barely distinguishable from each other at this point) is notable. I give it a B+.
My personal rating would be a D. Although I could see how it might resonate with someone who knew nothing of Tracy, his family, and his background.
Tracy styles himself as a reformer who’s going to change things in Washington. But his party controls Washington and Tracy provides no evidence or examples of how he might be a different type of Republican. His message is simply “I’m not a career politician.” And he says that ironically after previously running as a Democrat.
- don the legend - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:15 am:
==His message is simply “I’m not a career politician.” ==
Don’t need to be a career politician when you can just buy them.
- don the legend - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:16 am:
Sorry, C-
- Someone you should know - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:30 am:
Rauner was excoriated for his Carhartt clothes to cozy up to rural voters. Tracy takes a different approach, and now you will make fun of a guy for wearing a suit. I guess you can’t win.
C-, I think. Nothing about how to change things, ignores the student loans part along with my own feeling that he worked during college, not to afford college, and it just made me say ick with the ‘I was performing child labor when it was illegal, simply because it was my family’s business’. I understand kids working on family farms, but not so much a warehouse and it especially doesn’t ring good to me with the number of states that are trying to remove child labor law protections.
Acknowledging only inside the bubble types would catch it, but did anyone notice he’s wearing the exact same clothes in every take? Including a suit jacket in the middle of a farm field? Production D. Substance C-.
Lean left independent and I thought the Ad is a B+.
I’ve been very turned off by the Dem Ads for Senate (all of them).
- here we go again - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:55 am:
Don Tracy has failed as a candidate as both a D and an R. This year he’ll add another loss. He was state party chair not that long ago and had golden opportunity to make the IL GOP a serious organization. But he didn’t, so now he’ll reap what he didn’t sow. Again.
- Give Us Barabbas - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:58 am:
Knowing the context and who he is, I would give it a gentleman’s B. The stock footage slaps, the original footage of him and his interviews are mid. I laugh and point out he’s ashamed to state he’s a Republican anywhere in the campaign, in spoken words or text. He’s counting on voters who don’t know that to bite on his progressive-sounding sympathetic reactions to the interviewees problems and concerns, concerns his party are directly responsible for.
For those that do not pay much attention to who is running the three branches of the federal government right now, and also do not know much about economics this is a solid C or a maga B.
=The fact that is universally panned here is the signal of a good ad=
Sure, if you are running for first place in the loser contest. How many statewide republican elected are there these days?
- Don Tracy has failed as a candidate as both a D and an R. -
Somewhere between a D and an R sits a fence.
I rate it somewhere in between…for whatever that’s worth?
- HASBEEN Caucus Member - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 3:05 pm:
Solid A for the first getting to know me and my values ad as the population does not know Don.
Next, what I’ll do different:
-free markets for efficiency to bring down prices,
-Limited government, all people and lifestyles are valuabe,
-capitalism and families take the lead, not political whims deciding through tariffs.
Don’t mention names but change through stressing old fashioned Republicans values. Flies well in city and suburbs.
It’s a good ad, I’d give it a 6/10, maybe a 7. As others noted, it makes him relatable and in touch with what regular people are dealing with.
It’s also way too long. Unless he can cut this into shorter segments, like one for each person he speaks with and an edited voiceover, a lot of people will skip right past it. Especially on-line viewers.
- Jr. Neef - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:12 am:
Working during college versus working your way through college are two different things. I guess Don got over the 15 second ads he preferred while running as a democrat for the State Senate.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:23 am:
So bad I do not know where to start.
I had a long talk with a Republican leader 20 years ago.
What I said was “If Republicans cannot figure out how to run better campaigns than you did for Topinka, Democrats will never elect anyone better than Rod Blagojevich.”
The state of the Illinois GOP is so bad now that Democrats can sit on their couch and laugh.
It is so bad that Republicans in Cook County have decided they are better off running as Democrats.
That will be happening in Lake and DuPage County within the decade as well.
The result is that Democrats do not have to evolve new ideas, engage new voters, or really even worry about being accountable for doing their basic jobs.
- DrX - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:49 am:
What does Jill (career politician) Tracy think of the ad?
Substance wise = a great ad. Relatable
- DS - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:50 am:
D. I understand that affordability is the zeitgeist right now, but the GOP has a trifecta in Washington. There’s no way for a wannabe congressional Republican to make this argument without implicitly pointing the finger at his own party. And Tracy doesn’t offer anything he’d do differently.
- Alton Sinkhole - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:52 am:
It’s a really solid ad, I’d give it an A-. Makes him relatable; it doesn’t feel like a cut-and-paste ad. There was clearly some actual thought put into the message.
Will this matter on EDay in November? No. But ad wise it’s really something to be proud of and the type of track IL Republican party wants to leave its MAGA era. Not holding my breath, but that’s another discussion.
- hmmm - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:55 am:
This was a good ad, but I must say about the college section. He says it’s good she worked through college to pay for it, but that’s not all. She has loans. He didn’t acknowledge the student loans. They didn’t need that back in Don’s day. Funnily enough, student loans were created right at the same time of the Civil Rights Act and Blacks were allowed to college. It’s shameful no one wants to tackle it. Well, Biden tried.
- Steve Rogers - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:55 am:
It’s a pretty good ad, but it’s ironic that the problems the featured people have are due to the policies of the current Republican administration. What will Don Tracy do differently than the Republican sycophants currently in Congress? This ad implies he will look out for the little guy, but his party consistently and unabashedly looks out for the rich, white guy.
- Jocko - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 8:56 am:
==I worked my way through college, as well.==
You’re telling me DOT Foods Inc. (started in 1960, now worth $10 billion) was barely making ends meet in 1981?
- btowntruthfromforgottonia - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:00 am:
His party is running things in DC…..
His daughter is a career politician….
The ad had a gloomy backdrop the entire way through.
If that’s the best they can do they’re going to get rolled over in November.
- CA-HOON! - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:04 am:
Don: Who’s paying for your education?
Woman: Mostly me and loans.
Don: So you’re working your way through college?
Woman: I am. I work two jobs.
Don: That’s great. I worked my way through college, as well.
===
Not sure saying it’s “great” to being overworked and in debt is the best pitch to working folks. But there will be people who (the kind who don’t “pay attention to politics”) will probably like this, because of the safe, familiar trope of “things are expensive and a straight-talking outsider who works for the people can fix it” and that’ll be good enough for them.
I would give it a C but all the people in this ad don’t seem genuine at all, especially Tracy.
So D+ is my grade.
- meh - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:08 am:
If this is an “ad” with money behind it, which is what the word ad implies… why is it 2 minutes long?
- Jack in Chatham - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:08 am:
I didn’t hear even one idea to fix anything. F
- Bob - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:12 am:
Just work yourself to death with no healthcare, then you won’t have to worry about retirement!
- Jack - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:18 am:
Trump tariffs have cost the average household $1,000. But tell us more about the high cost of living and the struggles of working families. The Tracy family couldn’t be more out of touch.
- Bogey Golfer - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:21 am:
He forgot to ask the interviewees how tariffs have affected each of them….especially the farmer.
- Isabel Miller - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:28 am:
This is a reminder to include a rating!
- Think Again - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:40 am:
Great ad - rate it an A-, perfect for the primary and as an introduction to who Don Tracy is to the wider electorate
- Responsa - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:41 am:
The contrast of Tracy’s well put together ad with the loud angry fighting ads from the other senate candidates (ads which are dominating the airwaves yet are barely distinguishable from each other at this point) is notable. I give it a B+.
- Walker - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 9:57 am:
Image B+
Substance D
At this stage image wins.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:01 am:
My personal rating would be a D. Although I could see how it might resonate with someone who knew nothing of Tracy, his family, and his background.
Tracy styles himself as a reformer who’s going to change things in Washington. But his party controls Washington and Tracy provides no evidence or examples of how he might be a different type of Republican. His message is simply “I’m not a career politician.” And he says that ironically after previously running as a Democrat.
- don the legend - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:15 am:
==His message is simply “I’m not a career politician.” ==
Don’t need to be a career politician when you can just buy them.
- don the legend - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:16 am:
Sorry, C-
- Someone you should know - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 10:30 am:
Who wears a suit to a farm?
- Think Again - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:13 am:
=Who wears a suit to a farm?=
Rauner was excoriated for his Carhartt clothes to cozy up to rural voters. Tracy takes a different approach, and now you will make fun of a guy for wearing a suit. I guess you can’t win.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:16 am:
=Who wears a suit to a farm?=
The same guy who wears one with a baseball cap. Somebody convinced him it would make him relatable.
- BE - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:16 am:
C-, I think. Nothing about how to change things, ignores the student loans part along with my own feeling that he worked during college, not to afford college, and it just made me say ick with the ‘I was performing child labor when it was illegal, simply because it was my family’s business’. I understand kids working on family farms, but not so much a warehouse and it especially doesn’t ring good to me with the number of states that are trying to remove child labor law protections.
- Paul Powell - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:19 am:
Solid A
It’s supposed to appeal to Republican primary voters
The fact that is universally panned here is the signal of a good ad
- Pool Boy - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:19 am:
Acknowledging only inside the bubble types would catch it, but did anyone notice he’s wearing the exact same clothes in every take? Including a suit jacket in the middle of a farm field? Production D. Substance C-.
- IworkinLaw13 - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:48 am:
Lean left independent and I thought the Ad is a B+.
I’ve been very turned off by the Dem Ads for Senate (all of them).
- here we go again - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:55 am:
Don Tracy has failed as a candidate as both a D and an R. This year he’ll add another loss. He was state party chair not that long ago and had golden opportunity to make the IL GOP a serious organization. But he didn’t, so now he’ll reap what he didn’t sow. Again.
- Give Us Barabbas - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 11:58 am:
Knowing the context and who he is, I would give it a gentleman’s B. The stock footage slaps, the original footage of him and his interviews are mid. I laugh and point out he’s ashamed to state he’s a Republican anywhere in the campaign, in spoken words or text. He’s counting on voters who don’t know that to bite on his progressive-sounding sympathetic reactions to the interviewees problems and concerns, concerns his party are directly responsible for.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 12:03 pm:
For those that do not pay much attention to who is running the three branches of the federal government right now, and also do not know much about economics this is a solid C or a maga B.
=The fact that is universally panned here is the signal of a good ad=
Sure, if you are running for first place in the loser contest. How many statewide republican elected are there these days?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 12:34 pm:
===universally panned here===
Another victim heard from.
Pull that crud again here and you’re banned, bub.
“Substance wise = a great ad”
“It’s a really solid ad, I’d give it an A-”
“It’s a pretty good ad”
“Great ad - rate it an A-”
“Tracy’s well put together ad”
“Solid A”
“Lean left independent and I thought the Ad is a B+”
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 2:53 pm:
- Don Tracy has failed as a candidate as both a D and an R. -
Somewhere between a D and an R sits a fence.
I rate it somewhere in between…for whatever that’s worth?
- HASBEEN Caucus Member - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 3:05 pm:
Solid A for the first getting to know me and my values ad as the population does not know Don.
Next, what I’ll do different:
-free markets for efficiency to bring down prices,
-Limited government, all people and lifestyles are valuabe,
-capitalism and families take the lead, not political whims deciding through tariffs.
Don’t mention names but change through stressing old fashioned Republicans values. Flies well in city and suburbs.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 4:28 pm:
It’s a good ad, I’d give it a 6/10, maybe a 7. As others noted, it makes him relatable and in touch with what regular people are dealing with.
It’s also way too long. Unless he can cut this into shorter segments, like one for each person he speaks with and an edited voiceover, a lot of people will skip right past it. Especially on-line viewers.
But he’s out with a good opening. Good for him.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 6:08 pm:
EDay?…I think they have a pill for that nowadays?
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 6:10 pm:
I amuse myself…at least.
- TheSouthern - Tuesday, Feb 10, 26 @ 6:29 pm:
C for a GOP Primary. Did he even mention Trump? Are career politicians and cost of living key influencers for primary voters?
I did notice the appreciation plaque from Secretary of State George Ryan at 1:38. Ewww…