United States Senate election in Illinois, 2026 (March 17 Republican primary)
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| U.S. Senate, Illinois |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: November 3, 2025 |
| Primary: March 17, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
6 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th Illinois elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
A Republican Party primary takes place on March 17, 2026, in Illinois to determine which Republican candidate will run in the state's general election on November 3, 2026.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent is Dick Durbin (Democrat), who was first elected in 1996.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Illinois, state law provides for a closed primary where a voter must be affiliated with a party to vote in that party's primary. However, voters state their affiliation at the polls and any voter may change their affiliation on the day of the primary. A voter's eligibility to vote a party's ballot may be challenged.[1]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Illinois' United States Senate Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- United States Senate election in Illinois, 2026 (March 17 Democratic primary)
- United States Senate election in Illinois, 2026
Candidates and election results
Republican primary election
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 | ||
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| = 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
- Lloyd Jones (R)
- Panagioti Bartzis (R)
- John Goodman (R)
- Doug Bennett (R)
- Januario Ortega (R)
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "R. Cary Capparelli is an International businessman and educator. Capparelli is the son of the late Ralph C. Capparelli who served in the Illinois House of Representatives, as a moderate Democrat, for seventeen (17) consecutive terms. Much of the younger Capparelli’s professional career spanned the globe including organizing the first motorsports competitions between the United States and the former Soviet Union, international boxing matches, international bicycle racing, and also developing a vineyard in Argentina. “I am not a politician,” stressed Capparelli. “However, I am a hard working individual with the experience and ability to function as an effective ‘America First’ lawmaker.” The candidate holds four (4) university degrees: BAJ from Drake University, MSJ from Northwestern University, MA in geography from Northeastern Illinois University and a PhD in geography from the University of London. “Washington has plenty of lawyers but lacks common sense economists, geographers, and those from other important disciplines that form domestic and world opinion,” added Capparelli. He continues to operate his Chicago-area based management/marketing firm, and has instructed cultural and regional geography courses at South Dakota State University the past eight (8) years."
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "I'm a 7th+ generation American, mother, pet parent, occupational therapist, first-generation college graduate, political writer, member of a 150+ years farming family of Illinois, and Republican since the Obama era. I'm running for U.S. Senate because I grew tired of the voice of Illinoisans being ignored when it came to mass immigration. I’m done with partisanship, extremism, and inconsistent criminal justice. I think government needs to slow down and start listening again to The People. I’m running for Senate because activism on the bench needs to be held accountable. As senator, I will confirm judges that apply historical understanding and originalism to their analysis of law and their rulings/opinions about the cases before them. I never wanted to be a politician, but I’ve decided to become the type of public servant that I and The People have been asking for."
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Illinois
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R. Cary Capparelli | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Casey Chlebek | Republican Party | $80,000 | $57,475 | $22,525 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| CaSándra Claiborne | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Jeannie Evans | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Pamela Denise Long | Republican Party | $8,631 | $4,009 | $4,623 | As of June 30, 2025 |
| Jimmy Lee Tillman II | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Don Tracy | Republican Party | $2,062,222 | $9,970 | $2,052,252 | As of September 30, 2025 |
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Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in Illinois in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Illinois, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| Illinois | U.S. Senate | Established parties | 5,000 | N/A | 11/3/2025 | Source |
| Illinois | U.S. Senate | Independents | 25,000 | N/A | 5/26/2026 | Source |
See also
- United States Senate election in Illinois, 2026 (March 17 Democratic primary)
- United States Senate election in Illinois, 2026
- United States Senate Democratic Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate Republican Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate elections, 2026
- U.S. Senate battlegrounds, 2026
External links
Footnotes
