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Jump Shepherd
Jump Shepherd (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Illinois. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 17, 2026.[source]
Shepherd completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jump Shepherd was born in Melrose Park, Illinois. He graduated from Proviso East High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from South Carolina State University in 2018. His career experience includes working as an electrician, elementary science teacher, and astronomer.[1]
Shepherd has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Chicago Federation of Labor
- Electrical Workers Minority Caucus
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Elections
2026
See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 17, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
General election for U.S. Senate Illinois
Austin Mink (Independent), Tyrone Muhammad (Independent), and Anthony Smith (Independent) are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Illinois on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Austin Mink (Independent)  | |
 | Tyrone Muhammad (Independent) | |
| Anthony Smith (Independent) | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Illinois
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Illinois on March 17, 2026.
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Dick Durbin (D)
- Stanley Leavell (D)
- Robert Palmer (D)
- Adair Rodriquez (D)
Republican primary
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Illinois
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Illinois on March 17, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | R. Cary Capparelli | |
 | Casey Chlebek | |
| CaSándra Claiborne | ||
| Jeannie Evans | ||
 | Pamela Denise Long | |
 | Jimmy Lee Tillman II | |
| Don Tracy | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Panagioti Bartzis (R)
- Doug Bennett (R)
- John Goodman (R)
- Lloyd Jones (R)
- Januario Ortega (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jump Shepherd completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Shepherd's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- We need to tax billionaires. My Billionaire’s Bill does just that. It implements a 1950s era 92% tax rate on income over $10 million. It also creates a wealth tax of 2% annually on wealth over $50 million and 5% annually for over $1 billion in wealth. This bill will lower taxes for 99.9% of the population and create universal healthcare and a universal basic income from the $3-$5 trillion that will be raised from it. This bill also funds other key legislation I plan to bring to the senate. This immediately eliminates poverty and the crimes of poverty from our society. Just like that, we’re a big step closer to living in a utopian society.
- I am a union Electrician from IBEW Local 134 out of Cook County. We need someone from the working class to represent us. We need someone who takes the train to work every day. I take the train every day. I know what it’s like to be on food stamps and to receive free lunch. I know what it’s like to work 60 hours a week. The average age in the U.S. Senate is 65. The average net worth is over $4 million. They are out of touch with us. My opponent in this race is more of the same; someone who is beholden to the deforestry industry, the energy industry, and AIPAC. They receive millions in donations from these and far right dark money groups who expect a return on their investments. That is not someone who will act in our best interest.
- As a nation, we must protect our women. We must enact laws that prohibit gender-based price discrimination. We must end the “Pink Tax”
No more cost to women and mothers for products and services that women exclusively need to buy. This includes tampons, pads, and bras, and also up-charges on products like razors or deodorant.
The second part of includes subsidizing all the stages and costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare. No more tax on being a woman!
Protecting Women’s rights to bodily autonomy
Tax Reform
Valuing teachers and farmers more highly through tax policy
Ending private owned prisons
Building Modular 3Bd2Ba 2000sq.ft. Homes for $100k cost to citizens
Courage: Willingness to make difficult decisions and stand up for what’s right, not just what’s popular.
Empathy: Understanding and caring about the lived experiences of countrymen, especially the most vulnerable.
Practical Competence: Ability to get things done, understand policy, and work effectively within institutions.
Consistency and Reliability: Following through on promises, maintaining principles under pressure.
Public Service Over Self-Interest: Putting community needs above personal ambition or gain.
Justice and Fairness: Ensuring laws and policies treat people equitably.
Representation: Listening to and amplifying the voices of constituents, not just special interests or billionaires.
Transparency: Making decision-making processes visible and understandable to the public.
Accountability: Owning my mistakes and growing from them, inviting oversight, and staying aa accessible to voters as always
.
Introduce bills and amendments in the Senate.
Debate proposed legislation and vote on laws.
Confirm or reject presidential appointments. This can include positions like cabinet secretaries, judges, ambassadors.
Ratify treaties negotiated by the President
Monitor, investigate, and check the actions of executive agencies and offices to ensure they follow the law and act in the public interest.
The Senate tries impeachment cases initiated by the House of Representatives. If someone in the executive or judicial branch is impeached, the Senate conducts the trial.
Balancing national policy considerations with the needs and concerns of the senator’s own state. This includes advocating for state specific needs like infrastructure, economic development, and other state needs.
Helping individual constituents with federal issues like problems with federal agencies, benefits and immigration.
Maintaining communication with constituents to understand and respond to their concerns through town halls and the like.
Serving on Senate committees where much of the detailed work is done: hearings, markup of bills, oversight.
Working with subcommittees, engaging subject matter experts, and participating in investigations.
Engaging in debate, sometimes shaping or delaying legislation through procedural tools (filibuster, holds, etc.).
Ensuring that legislation is scrutinized, that different viewpoints are heard.
Working on the federal budget, deciding funding for programs, oversight of federal spending.
Through treaty approval, confirmation of ambassadors, and oversight of foreign-affairs policy.
Upholding the Senate’s institutional norms and rules.
Managing procedural votes and helping set the pace as far as what comes to the floor and when.
Or Batman. Batman is pretty freaking cool.
Climate migration and conflicts will force millions to move, likely to more stable countries like America.
Immigration systems are already overstretched, and backlash politics may rise.
Rising authoritarianism and failing trust in institutions
Tensions between Russia, China, the Middle East, and the U.S. escalate and create global geopolitical instability.
Deepening polarization in the U.S. risks gridlock, instability, and political violence.
Misinformation, weakened trust in government, and declining civic engagement could undermine democracy itself.
Wealth inequality, especially between billionaires and working people, continues to grow.
Automation and artificial intelligence will displace jobs faster than workers can retrain.
Global supply chains will need to adapt to new technologies, climate pressures, and geopolitical fractures.
AI, biotechnology, and quantum computing will reform economies and what war looks like.
Ethical challenges around AI such as bias, surveillance, and control, will demand concise governance at the federal level.
The digital divide risks leaving millions behind if access isn’t expanded.
COVID-19 showed how unprepared America and the rest of the world was. By weakening the CDC through removal of experts and scientists, the next outbreak could be the end of humankind, and needs to be treated as such.
Rising antimicrobial resistance could make once-treatable infections deadly again.
Mental health crises, especially among youth, are accelerating at home and worldwide.
Water shortages will hit regions from the American West to South Asia.
Global food supply chains are vulnerable to both climate shocks and political conflict.
Faith without works is dead. Term limits without campaign finance reform won’t solve corruption. A revolving door of politicians still owned by billionaires and lobbyists doesn’t help working people.
Constitutional Design — Equal Representation for States – Every state has two senators. This gives small states equal footing with big ones in the Senate.
Senators serve six-year terms which allows them to take a longer-term view on issues rather than constantly campaigning.
Staggered Elections: Only a third of the Senate is up for election every two years, providing institutional continuity and stability.
The Senate confirms presidential nominees to federal courts, cabinet positions, and top executive offices.
Only the Senate can approve treaties, and it requires a 2/3 vote.
The House can impeach, but the Senate conducts the trial and decides whether to convict and remove an official from office.
With just 100 members, the Senate is more intimate, allowing for closer relationships and more individual influence than in the 435 member House.
The Senate allows unlimited debate unless 60 senators vote to end it with cloture, making the Senate a chamber of deliberation.
Senators can place holds on nominations or bills, propose amendments more freely, and generally wield more procedural influence than House members.
“The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body”, The Senate has long seen itself as a forum for serious, extended debate and statesmanship.
The framers intended the Senate to be a stabilizing force that tempers sudden shifts in public opinion
Bobby Rush was an activist and Rep here in Chicago before I started following politics, but I love his energy, his character, and his determination to do what’s right in spite of how it might endanger his life. Fred Hampton died so this man could live on and represent underserved communities in the federal government.
If they can answer every question with “Yes”, they’ll have my vote.
Does the nominee show deep respect for constitutional principles, precedent, and the separation of powers?
Will they apply the law fairly, not legislate from the bench to advance personal ideology?
Are they impartial, measured, and respectful?
Do they treat litigants, attorneys, and colleagues with fairness and civility?
Do they have a strong record of legal practice, scholarship, or judicial service?
Are they respected by peers across the political spectrum?
Will they uphold the rights of all people, regardless of wealth, race, gender, religion, or background?
Do they recognize the lived realities of working people, not just the interests of corporations and the powerful?
Can they decide cases free from political or financial influence?
Have they demonstrated honesty and ethical conduct throughout their career?
Do they show a principled approach to precedent, understanding the stability of the legal system relies on it?
Are they transparent about when and why they believe precedent should or shouldn’t be revisited?
During Confirmation, do they give clear, thoughtful answers to senators’ questions?
Are they forthright about their judicial philosophy and past decisions?
Red Flags include:
A record of extreme partisanship or rulings consistently favoring one political or corporate interest.
Ethics violations or undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Lack of experience in handling complex or constitutional issues.
We must:
Ensure presidents, cabinet officials, and agencies follow the law and respect constitutional limits.
Expose corruption, waste, abuse of power, or mismanagement.
Gather facts and expert testimony that help write better laws.
Highlight gaps in regulation, enforcement, or resources.
Shine a light on corporate misconduct, unsafe products, labor abuses, or threats to public health.
Provide a voice for ordinary citizens against concentrated power, like corporate monopolies.
Investigate foreign interference, attacks on voting rights, or attempts to undermine democratic institutions.
Build the public record to deter future abuses.
Keep inquiries grounded in evidence, and refrain from political “point scoring”.
Share findings with the public so citizens understand what’s at stake.
Respect witnesses’ rights and ensure due process, even for those accused of wrongdoing.
Oversight is strongest when both parties agree facts matter more than winning. Bipartisanship is key.
Publish reports, then translate findings into legislation, reforms, or accountability measures.
Some great examples of the Senate’s investigative powers at work include:
The Teapot Dome Scandal in the 1920s where Senate investigations exposed massive corruption in oil leases, leading to criminal convictions.
The Army-McCarthy Hearings- In 1954, The Senate reined in abuses of power during the Red Scare.
Anyone with major conflicts of interest, corruption allegations, or revolving-door lobbying ties will face heavy scrutiny.
Nominees must be qualified for the role, with real knowledge and ability to lead their department effectively. Expertise should matter more than connections or political loyalty. I will give priority to scientists, engineers, and doctors over nepotism picks, bankers, and tech CEOs.
I will ask every nominee how their policies will impact working families, labor rights, and the systems that benefit the wealthy.
Cabinet members must serve the American public, not corporate donors or billionaires.
I will oppose nominees who have undermined elections, promoted authoritarianism, or shown disregard for the Constitution.
What struck me wasn’t just her strength, but how unfair it was that people like her, people who make this country work, were being used as pawns in a political game. That moment reminded me exactly why I’m running: to build a government that serves working people with the same loyalty and dedication they show us every single day.
Just like aviation, medicine, and food safety, AI systems that impact lives such as healthcare, finance, transportation, and defense, should meet rigorous safety standards that we, as Congress, set. Including:
Require disclosure when AI is used in decisions that affect people’s rights, credit, jobs, or safety.
If an AI system causes harm, companies or agencies using it must be held responsible as opposed to hiding inside a “black box.”
Prevent mass surveillance, discriminatory algorithms, and abuses in policing or immigration.
Guard against AI-driven disinformation campaigns that could destabilize democracy.
Ensure AI adoption doesn’t simply mean mass layoffs. We need to support retraining, wage protections, and collective bargaining rights in AI-impacted industries.
Fund open source, ethical AI research through universities and public institutions.
Prevent the tech giants from monopolizing AI infrastructure.
Lead in setting international AI norms, rather than letting China or authoritarian regimes write the rules.
Strict oversight on autonomous weapons. Humans must remain in control of life-and-death decisions.
Invest in AI for defense against cyberattacks while protecting civil liberties.
Work with allies to prevent an arms race in AI-driven warfare.
Mandate testing for racial, gender, and economic bias in AI systems.
Ensuring future AI systems remain under human control.
Secure Accessible Remote Voting Act (SARVA)
Seniors, individuals with disabilities, and caregivers often face barriers to in-person voting, even with absentee and mail options.
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires accessible voting systems, but technological progress has outpaced federal standards.
Secure, pilot-scale online voting can expand access while maintaining integrity through strict safeguards.
Purpose:
To establish limited, federally supported pilot programs that allow at-home online voting for seniors (55+), voters with disabilities, and caregivers, with paper verification, security audits, and fallback options.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. Senate Illinois |
Personal |
Footnotes
