Republican Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Don Tracy discusses his agenda
Primary elections in Illinois are less than five weeks away, and voters will be deciding who will be the Democratic and Republican nominees to replace U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who is retiring at the end of his term.
Don Tracy, a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party and former chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, is among six Republicans running for the seat.
Among the many questions CBS News Chicago asked was whether he would fight to restore public health funding that President Trump's administration is planning to withhold from Illinois and other Democratic-led states.
"I will certainly fight for Illinois. I'm running to be the U.S. senator from Illinois, and I will be representing my constituents, and I will not be a rubber stamp for anybody," Tracy said.
Tracy also was asked if he agrees with the Trump administration's tactics in immigration enforcement efforts in Illinois and other Democratic-led states.
"I enforce immigration law enforcement, which has worked very well throughout the country, except in sanctuary cities. I lived in Memphis almost eight years. They did the same thing. They did a surge down there, and it's worked very well," he said. "In sanctuary cities, immigration law enforcement is more of a challenge because of massive resistance."
Meantime, Tracy accused Democrats of waging a "war on traditional, reliable, affordable energy."
"We're all environmentalists, but the far left Democrats are trying to go too green too fast, and it's costing us all," Tracy said. "We've made a lot of progress, and we'll continue to make progress, but we can't go green overnight. It will bankrupt the country and our consumers."
The winner of the Republican primary in March will face a difficult road to winning the general election. It has been 16 years since Illinois elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and former Gov. Bruce Rauner was the only Republican elected to statewide office in the past decade.