- [Announcer] From the WTVP-PBS studios on the historic Peoria, Illinois RiverFront, it's the Republican primary forum for the open US Senate seat for Illinois.

This forum is produced in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria and the League of Women Voters of Illinois.

- Good evening, I'm Jenn Gordon, CEO at WTVP-PBS.

As a local public broadcasting station, we are committed to creating spaces for civic discourse that are independent, non-partisan, and neutral from influence and agenda.

Tonight, we bring you back-to-back primary candidate forums for the open US Senate seat for Illinois.

This forum is being facilitated and timed by The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria and The League of Women Voters of Illinois.

The league's invited candidates to participate based on their fundraising amounts in Federal Election Commission campaign disclosures filed October 15th, 2025 for the period ending September 30th, 2025, as well as evidence of an active campaign as determined by their website.

Participating in this Republican primary forum are the following candidates, Don Tracy, Casey Chlebek, and Denise Long.

The candidates have agreed to the following ground rules for this forum.

Candidates have drawn lots to determine the order in which they will give their opening statements and will then alternate the order of speaking.

The candidate who makes the first opening statement will move to the end of the line for the first question, and this will continue through the questioning and closing statements.

Candidates will be allowed two minutes for opening statements, one and a half minutes to answer each question, and two minutes for closing statements.

Candidates' statements and responses will be timed.

League members will keep time and display countdown cards visible to the candidates and moderators.

The moderators are responsible for enforcing the time limits and may interrupt the forum to enforce the ground rules.

And now, I'm pleased to present our moderators for tonight's Republican primary forum for the open US Senate seat in Illinois.

WTVP's host of "At Issue," Mark Welp and the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria President, Chris Kaergard.

- Thank you, Jenn, as she mentioned, the candidates drew lots to determine the order of opening statements.

- Don Tracy will go first, followed by Casey Chlebek, and finally, Pamela Denise Long.

Mr.

Tracy, you have two minutes for your opening statement.

- Well, thank you, Chris, and thank you, Mark.

Thank you, WTVP-PBS, thank you, League of Women Voters for hosting this event today.

My name is Don Tracy and I'm running for the US Senate seat that is now held by Dick Durbin.

I have been practicing law in Illinois for more decades than I care to admit.

Along with my 11 siblings, I co-own a very successful family business here in Illinois.

I also owned and operated my own small business in Illinois when I had to make payroll sometimes when I couldn't afford it.

I also have lots of political experience in Illinois as a volunteer and as a donor, but I am not a career politician.

I have experienced the American Dream, and I am running to defend the American Dream from the far-left radical base of the Democrat Party and their extreme agenda.

I am running to reduce the cost of living for all Illinoisans, especially working families, and to champion common sense solutions in Washington, DC, and to represent in Washington, DC all Illinoisans, not just Chicago, thank you.

- [Chris] Thank you.

Mr.

Chlebek, you're next.

- Before I begin my remarks, I am a little bit under the weather, so please forgive me by occasional coughs.

Good afternoon, I'm honored to be with you tonight.

I'm an immigrant from a communist Poland, and I came to the United States legally upon completion of high school in 1967.

I graduated from ICC with a degree in engineering, but I worked all my professional career in IT.

I became even a commodore of Chicago Yachting Association.

I also manage with my brother a successful real estate business.

I am running because of my rare experience under the oppressive communist regime, but unfortunately today, in the United States, we have a brand new byproduct of communism called cultural Marxism, which kills brains of our young generations, not by bullets, but by skillful implementation of corrosive and toxic ideologies, such as woke or DEI.

I'm running because our country faces now serious challenges, ever rising taxes, rising cost of common goods, especially food, housing, and healthcare.

When elected, I would change it all with my bold initiative of MAGNA agenda by bringing your prosperity of the yesteryear.

I know this nation represents still opportunity, but that's slipping away for far too many.

I will fight to secure our borders, uphold our rules of law, defend our shared values.

I'm running to rebuild trust in our government and right for every Illinois family the few have left behind.

I would like to be your voice in Washington.

My campaign is so funded and I would take no salary.

This as a senator and my position, I will not be bought by any lobbyist.

And lastly, this job should be not be about power, politics, or policies, it should be about people.

So with the people, for the people, with the people, we will save this republic.

When elected, I'll work for you each and every day to fulfill your American Dream of prosperity.

My name is Casey Chlebek, and please vote for me on March 17th, thank you.

- Thank you, Ms.

Long?

- Thank you for everyone who's made this conversation possible.

We are at an important time in our nation.

As you know, Illinois is in a crisis, and it is a microcosm of what's going around, what's going on around the country.

My name is Dr.

Pamela Denise Long.

I'm a proud seventh-generation American.

I'm a long-time Illinoisan.

I'm running for US Senate, because we need courage in Washington, DC.

We need an Americans First agenda.

I have worked tirelessly for several years, putting meat on the bones of this beautiful slogan called America First, and what that means to me is not pointing fingers, not riding the president's coattails, though he is trying to do amazing things for the American people.

What it means to me is bringing any gifts, talents, and abilities I've been blessed to have to bear for your children and grandchildren.

Within 90 days of being sworn into office, I will implement several model pieces of legislation.

One of those is to fill the gaps that heirs property legislation currently presents, where families without a will or a clear title of possession are losing generational wealth.

That is happening across Illinois, and dare I say, across the country.

Another of which is a family land and home equity protections act so that our families are safeguarded against predatory practices as well as misconduct within civil proceedings.

Another of those is to make sure that I work with the president and the Executive Branch to implement what I was invited to Washington, DC in 2024 to brief congressional staffers about, and that is a native-born labor sourcing plan.

The purpose of that plan is to make sure that American citizens, as well as those who are legally authorized to work in our great nation, are prioritized with business development employment, because we cannot have a country where the American people remain left behind, thank you.

- [Chris] Thank you.

- Thank you very much.

Now, we will get to our first question.

Again, you have a minute and a half to answer each question, and Mr.

Chlebek, we'll start with you.

President Trump's trade wars have had an impact on farmers in Illinois and around the country.

China stopped buying soybeans, which is traditionally Illinois's largest agricultural export.

The question is are tariffs doing more harm than good?

Or should the federal government keep financially subsidizing farmers for their losses?

You have 90 seconds.

- I'll be very honest with you.

Tariffs do not solve the problem.

I understand tariffs in occasional situations where we have massive dumping, but in our case, we have a premonitory situation where they are contrary to our actual wellbeing.

Our farmers are suffering massively because of these tariffs.

We should not employ it in this case.

That's why they actually not only face higher prices, they also face counter tariffs, and we should not be subsidizing our farmers for this purpose.

I do believe that this can be resolved, and let's don't use tariffs as a weapon against the entire world.

Tariffs have their limits, and that's not the place to use them.

So I am against the massive use by executive order of tariffs in this case, - Ms.

Long?

- So I'm well aware that Congress has authority for implementing tariffs, but I think people need to really understand the overall vision that the president is trying to do.

The use of tariffs is a strategy.

It's intended to implement the Americans First agenda, the reshoring of jobs, as well as making sure that Americans citizens, as well as businesses, consume more of what we produce in the United States.

We have to recognize that as a nation with trade agreements and other types of strategies, we've offshored so much of what we need in terms of employment, and we source even the most basic things, including our medicines, the materials we need for basic life, to other countries.

We have to bring that back, and one of the things that I've asked of the president's administration is to be more communicative with the American people about the fact that we're remaking, we're redesigning our whole system, or attempting to.

It's like making sausage, right?

It's gonna look bad before it gets better, but that needs to be clearly communicated, because we're a resilient people, and if we know what the strategy is and know where the pain is coming from because we are clear on purpose, we can certainly tolerate it and get behind it.

- Mr.

Tracy?

- Yep.

Farmers that I know do not really want government support.

They would like to have zero government support.

Unfortunately, because other countries subsidize farming, we have to support our farmers so they can compete internationally.

That's why we have a farm bill.

And in the past, we used to have five-year farm bills, but because of gridlock in Washington, we don't have that now.

So number one, to create more stability in the farm community, we need to have a five-year farm plan again.

Also in the international trade competition with China and Europe, farmers are often used and are being used today as pawns, and when that happens, we have to protect them with bridge support, which the current administration has done.

So as I said, farmers I know do not really want subsidies, but in order to compete internationally, there has to be a reasonable amount of government support, preferably on a long-term basis.

- [Mark] Thank you.

- All right, we're gonna move along to our next question and start with Ms.

Long for that.

This month, a survey by Talker Research showed nine in 10 Americans believe that we are in a cost of living crisis.

What actions would you take if elected to the Senate to help Americans struggling with affordability?

- Yeah, so there are a constellation of things that have to happen.

One thing, we have to tighten the labor market.

We are in a situation that we've been in for two generations now, since the 1965 Hart-Celler Act that essentially opened the borders to everyone around the world.

We have so many people here available for hiring that employers do not have to offer, voluntarily offer, a living wage to American citizens and authorized workers.

We absolutely have to eliminate our reliance upon mass legal immigration, as well as mass illegal immigration.

We've known since the 2008 Civil Rights Report that white men and Black men with a high school diploma or less were being displaced by mass illegal immigration.

That has to change.

We're in a situation here, so the wages would increase with a tighter labor market.

In addition to that, the healthcare insurance crisis is just phenomenal.

We've known that the enhanced subsidies were set to expire.

No one in Congress did anything to off-ramp us from those subsidies.

I'd like to make sure that we redesign health insurance to make it more affordable.

I'd like to do technical, provide technical assistance to the governor here to address the property tax issue that is really strapping families, and I'd love to see more affordable housing built, including making use of underused or even, you know, abandoned existing infrastructure.

- [Chris] Thank you, Mr.

Tracy?

- The Democrats say they are the party of affordability.

They're saying to reduce the cost of living, elect more Democrats.

Is this some kind of a joke?

Everything Democrats do increases the cost of living, starting with reckless spending under the Biden administration.

Because of that reckless spending, we experienced historic inflation, the highest inflation in over 40 years, at least 20% during the Biden administration.

Some say as high as 30%, and that adds to everything.

Putting the Democrats in charge of reducing the cost of living is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

They love taxes, new, old, that increases the cost of living.

Their war on traditional affordable energy has increased utility prices in Illinois and elsewhere.

They're soft on crime policies that, among other things, have caused an epidemic of shoplifting throughout this country, and in my hometown of Springfield, have increased retail prices on everything that can be carried outside a store.

So the solution, overly simplified, because I only have 90 seconds, is to elect more Republicans up and down the ballot if we wanna really reduce the cost of living.

- All right, And Mr.

Chlebek?

- If we compare cost of a living in the '50s and we look at the affordability in the '50s, we will see that if compared with today, our generations cannot even match what was possible to buy with the salaries on 1950s.

We have to make sure that our wages are compatible with what we used to have and actually should increase.

Our middle class should be expanding, actually, not collapsing as it is today.

So we have to look into all options that we increase our wage of living.

Now, you mentioned tariffs.

Tariffs are one example why our prices are higher, because in the end, people pay for it.

If we stop these tariffs on a massive level across the entire world, we will bring down our costs of, you know, expenses as well.

I want to say that this topic requires, really, a very, I would say, systematic approach, and my MAGNA agenda, which is about reducing a slew of taxes on, or actually eliminate them, like for real estate property, for IRS taxes, and also abolishing, you know, interest in IRS retirement income is a way to bring more money into the pockets of everyday citizens.

I want to also give younger generation a chance to better start.

We have to provide incentives also to make sure that they have better purchasing power.

- All right, thank you.

- All right, for our next question, we're gonna start with Mr.

Tracy.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' 2025 Report Card for America's Infrastructure is a C. Illinois got a C- with drinking water, storm water, roads, and transit, getting the worst grades.

With the federal bipartisan infrastructure law ending this year, how would you like to see the money spent in a new bill?

- One of the problems with infrastructure in Illinois and in the United States is all the red tape and excess regulation that keeps projects from being shovel-ready.

We did pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill, actually, under the Biden administration with Republican support, but too many of those projects have taken too long to be fulfilled, and it's because of red tape caused in large part by extreme environmentalism.

Now, Republicans are environmentalists, I'm an environmentalist, my birthday's on Earth Day, (Don chuckling) and President Nixon has started the EPA, he was a Republican, but we are rational environmentalists.

We need to protect the environment, but we have been.

When I learned to ski on the Illinois River just downstream from Peoria at age 14, the Illinois River was an extension of the Chicago sewer system.

There were smog alerts when I went to school out in Arizona and in LA.

We have cleaned up the air, we've cleaned up the water, we're going green.

Businesses, I go to board meetings, and businesses have been going green and talking green for a long time, but we cannot transition overnight to 100% green.

It will bankrupt the nation.

- Thank you, sir, Mr.

Chlebek?

- Regarding infrastructure, we should remember that when we build significant piece of infrastructure, roads or whatever, we initially should establish special funds, how to maintain going forward.

So the question of looking for funds should be actually off the table.

We should have money ready for this, because as the infrastructure ages, we should have funds available for this.

And also, we have to be cognizant of the fact that we have a massive amount of all sorts of regulations which actually increase cost of maintaining infrastructure, et cetera, but above all, we should provide also additional ways of bringing along with infrastructure, our jobs to Illinois.

So that's why I'm advising to have create a Silicon Valley of the Midwest in Illinois where we can have the best and the brightest build industries for, let it be AI, quantum computing, robotics, whatever.

So let's make sure that we use every tool possible, not just for infrastructure, but for increasing capacity of this state.

We can do better.

This state should be actually a prime example of how to build not just infrastructure, but the best of the industry that we can have.

- Thank you, Ms.

Long?

- Yeah, so transportation is an area where I would love to see the state of Illinois united, and bear with me for a moment.

75% of the population and the $1 trillion economy for Illinois comes out of Chicago and its collar counties, and 25% in the rest of the state.

That's important for infrastructure, because Chicago is a hub, the hub, in the United States for transportation of both people and product.

What I would like to see is, first of all, regular infrastructure bills, right?

Where we're funding some of the solutions to the issues as well as addressing the congestion that happens in Chicago that slows the movement of people and product.

I'd love to see us use the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA for short, in a way that isn't weaponized when it comes to environmental protections, but is really looking at what it's designed to do, which is to have a pre-assessment of the impacts of policy, proposed major federal actions, on the people.

NEPA is important because we can prevent both downstream negative consequences, and we can also maximize the impacts of our investments in infrastructure as well as social policy.

- Thank you very much.

- All right, gonna start this next question with Mr.

Chlebek.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting the US budget deficit to grow slightly in fiscal year 2026 to $1.853 trillion.

How can the US increase revenue and reduce spending to pay down this debt?

- Can you maybe clarify your question again, repeat that?

- Yes, it's focused on the budget deficit and what you would do or propose to either increase revenue or decrease spending to reduce both the budget deficit and the long-term national debt.

- Maybe we should start looking for where we misspent, misused our money, because if you look at our programs, you'll see that there's a lot of wasteful spending.

It's probably the first opportunity to eliminate excess, you know, deficits.

I totally agree.

We actually should be on a zero-level, you know, deficit, and to be honest with you, I actually don't see how Congress can create budgets that are in excess.

We should live within our means.

So we should not create budgets that are in excess of what is available to us.

So let's look at carefully what we are, you know, actually trying to bring on the table and reduce it.

Maybe the idea is to cut two programs before we create a new one, okay?

To make sure that we eliminate the larger budget deficit.

This is uncalled for, and we should do everything to make sure that we use every measure possible to eliminate.

No more excess spending, no more use of funds for budgets that are actually not in our possession, that we don't have the money for.

- All right, thank you.

- Ms.

Long?

- Yeah, so, waste fraud and abuse, efficiency and effectiveness.

If we can get behind what has happened in Minnesota and audit more of where we spend our money, I think we will find that we've been wasting money hand over fist in all areas of government, from military spending and what we fund in terms of wars and subsidies to foreign aid, as well as what we're spending in terms of the social safety net.

I definitely support the work requirement.

I believe that the social safety net needs to be there in case of emergency.

It shouldn't be a sustenance, it shouldn't sustain you, certainly not for generations.

I would love to see a codification of what DOGE found, but for Congress to take a look at the veracity of those findings.

I was very pleased to see that the appropriations bills, which happen every year, but catch us by surprise, that they happened in a bipartisan manner.

We need to operate as Congress with a sort of stewardship, an appropriate stewardship of the people's money, and I think we really need to not do the $2,000 checks that we were talking about doing.

I would love to see that money grow, that the president, the United States were able to secure through tariffs and whatnot, and start to pay down that debt, but a constellation of efforts are needed, and we have to be really intentional about the fact that we want to tax the people less, and with the money and resources that we do acquire from the people, we want to use them wisely.

- [Chris] All right, thank you, and Mr.

Tracy?

- Growth is the key to reducing the deficit, and there are a lot of things in H.R.1, also known as the Big, Beautiful Bill, but also known as the Working Families Tax Cut that was passed last summer, that should stimulate the economy even more as in the coming months.

Provisions like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on social security should encourage more people to get in and continue in the workforce.

Provisions in there encouraging able-bodied adults without young dependents to get off their couches and get back into the workforce will help with growth.

The commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, thinks that with other provisions in the bill, provisions like that, but other things, like accelerated depreciation for manufacturing facilities, for equipment, and for research and development will help increase GNP growth from 2% under Biden to 4 to 6% by this coming fall.

Growth like that will help us grow out of the deficit.

We do need to cut waste and fraud, too.

It's estimated as high as 10% in some of the welfare programs, absolutely, but its growth is more important than that.

We, as Republicans, we believe in government, but limited government and core functions.

Concentrating more on that will help us reduce the deficit.

- All right, thank you.

- Ms.

Long, there has been heavy criticism of tactics used in Chicago, Minneapolis, and elsewhere by immigration and customs enforcement with some calling for the group be reformed or even dismantled.

What policy changes, if any, do you feel should be made to ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies?

- So we're not abolishing ICE, and ICE is not the KKK.

We definitely need to make sure that we have robust customs and border patrol as well as interior enforcement through ICE.

Look, we have an Executive Branch with a clear set of policies, immigration policy being the second most complex next to tax policy, but the role is clear.

Our law enforcement should be able to engage with citizen and non-citizen alike in a way that is humane, but gets the job done.

So to the extent that that is not happening, that standard operating procedure, interactions with individuals and law enforcement isn't happening in the way that it's supposed to, then the people in supervisory roles should be held accountable for that, whether that be a conversation and investigation like what is happening right now.

And if officers who are operating in the field are operating outside of SOP, then they should be held accountable as well.

I think that citizens, those who are so adamant about protecting illegal aliens more than their neighbors and their safety, we have to really look at our messaging about immigration being an overall good and the nation-of-immigrants rhetoric that has a lot of Americans out fighting ICE while they are trying to prevent the rapes and murders and other things that have happened.

Every person who has an order of deportation must be removed from the United States of America, and we can certainly do that on purpose, on mission, and with our sense of humanity intact.

- [Mark] Thank you, Mr.

Tracy?

- Yes, well, my policy on immigration is wide gates and tall fences, and talking about this very difficult issue, we have to remember how we got here.

Under President Obama, the first term, he deported over three millions, 3 million people, illegal immigrants.

There was no problem then, and Tom Homan was his border czar, like he is the president's border czar are today, and that was before President Biden opened the borders and let in 10-plus million illegal immigrants.

Everybody knows immigration law is federal, it's the province of the federal government, not local states or cities, and yet since then, we've had these sanctuary cities develop and immigration law enforcement has been going well throughout most of the country, including Memphis, where I lived for several years in the '70s.

They welcomed it, they found a lot of missing children, got a lot of hardened criminals off the street, but in sanctuary cities, there is massive resistance, and we still need to enforce immigration, federal law there, but it's gonna have to be a little different.

And I'm confident that we will figure out how best to enforce immigration law even in the sanctuary cities, you know, while, you know, understanding that, you know, this is not a simple issue.

- [Mark] Thank you, sir, Mr.

Chlebek?

- We have to remember why we got into this problem in the first place, because we have not overhauled our immigration system for a hundred years.

We are overdue for a new immigration that fits our current condition, our economic needs.

So actually, I advanced an idea in the previous cycle that we should have almost recruitment centers outside of the country where we recruit people according to our quota, our needs by industry.

That would resolve, and that problem would never exist, but since it exists right now, today, we have to address it.

And what I want to tell you, I don't like when people are out on the street or are killed in the street, because, you know, our overzealous, you know, let's say, authorities.

What I can tell you, because the problem exists, and President Trump wants to address it, I think and I believe that we should have, actually, almost a congressional bill that defines the scope of this so we don't have a problem, (coughs) excuse me, with ICE, or you know, goes into the streets, because, actually, to be honest with you, the problem should not exist in the interior of a country.

We should stop the immigration issue right on the border.

Border defines the country, okay?

So for this purpose, I wanna let you know that I would want to make sure that we start working on overhauling the immigration system to fit our needs.

We have to make sure that we learn how to cope and absorb additional immigrants legally.

- [Mark] Thank you, sir.

- All right, moving along to the next question, Mr.

Tracy, we're gonna start with you for this.

Many federal policies relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion have been reversed, altered, or eliminated over the course of the past year, but I want to ask you, since this remains controversial, what should the government's approach to DEI be for its own government employees and for entities receiving federal grants?

- Well, unlike one of my opponents in this primary, I'm not a DEI consultant, but I do support diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity, but I don't support equity.

The equity aspect of it is basically a license for whoever is in power to do whatever the heck they want to do.

It's an undefined term, and it can easily be used to avoid the rule of law and to exercise illegal quotas, special preferences for the favored groups, whoever they might be.

So I think DEI has been a bad thing for our country, and I think it takes away from diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity.

Everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed in this country.

And it's not perfect, I'll grant you that, but it's probably the best in the world, which is why so many people want to come to this country.

So the emphasis should be on equal opportunity, not equity.

- Thank you, Mr.

Chlebek?

- Let's put it this way, the concept of DEI is actually under the umbrella of cultural Marxism, you know, the masterpiece that was created 100 years ago and continues forward today.

I want to tell you the problem starts probably with schools, because we need to remove this concept and teaching in schools.

When you establish, you know, the DEI or cultural Marxism issues in school as a prerequisite, it becomes a problem.

If it's an elective, I can agree.

I totally disagree with the fact that you should distribute your wealth because somebody needs it.

We should steal from Peter to pay Paul, so I'm for equity, equal opportunity.

We should never even think twice about how we reward people for their work.

It's not who needs the job, how many need the job, and divide them by the professions.

No, you cannot do that.

I'm steadfast against this, and I think in the end, we will not be actually even equal, we will die with the spirit of DEI.

- All right, thank you, Ms.

Long?

- Yeah, I love this question.

So I'm the type of Republican who remembered where I came from.

I'm the type of Republican that Abraham Lincoln would recognize and embrace.

I'm the type of Republican who recognized that the GOP got that moniker before being the Gallant Old Party, the Grand Old Party, because of its commitment to making sure that the Constitution applies to all Americans.

I am probably the only person in this entire senate race who has actually been at the spearhead of changing the modern, left-leaning concept of DEI.

I accepted the opportunity to debate at MIT back in 2024 about if academic DEI should be abolished, and as a result of my performance and the having of that debate in a civil, reasonable way, you saw universities pull back this edict that men who want to be women have to be treated like women, and all of the other things related to DEI.

Our nation is a diverse nation.

Our nation has embraced the requirement, the mandate to be inclusive of that diversity, and for me, a conservative, republican woman, equity means return on investment in a thing.

Therefore, Americans First, to me, means that those who've invested in the nation receive the equity that is due to them because of their investment in the nation.

- [Chris] Thank you.

- Mr.

Chlebek, we'll start with you.

We've recently seen revisions to the child vaccine schedule, states like Illinois adopting its own series of recommendations and ongoing tension over other health and vaccination advice from the government.

The question is what would you do in Congress to restore American's faith in federal health recommendations?

- I will say this, what we should leave this process of vaccination and recommendations to those that are empowered with this concept and know the benefits.

So it should be the medical professionals that should suggest by, you know, establishing the criteria when vaccination, how vaccination should be used.

I don't think that it should be done, actually, by just total power of the government, making almost like a pen stroke situation, but I do believe in vaccination.

I believe that sometimes it's warranted, and therefore, it should be also up to maybe even individuals to decide what they want to do.

So let's look at it very carefully, because it is not all one fits all.

It's a little bit complex situation, sometimes even guarded by religious principles, but let's leave it to the professionals.

Make sure that, first of all, the vaccine is verified and it can be used.

You know, if you develop a vaccine in two months, you can expect it's not gonna be very successful, very good at it, because the vaccines take years to develop, but I do believe that we should pursue vaccination.

It was a benefit for us all, and many times, saved millions of people.

- Ms.

Long?

- Yeah, so I think the COVID era with mandatory vaccination and just authoritarian, if I may say, that sort of implementation and mandate that you take an experiment is something we'll look back at with shame and regret.

I am unvaccinated, as is my child.

I believe in parental rights.

I think parents have an obligation and duty to choose what goes in and on their children's bodies.

I support the MAHA movement and RFK Junior's Secretary of Health and Human Services commitment to ask the hard questions.

I would love to see where HHS and vaccines and the like, and I think, approval of devices and whatnot happens where the people making those decisions and recommendations do not have conflicts of interest with the entities that make the things that they're supposed to be regulating and call safe.

So overall, for me, it's about individual freedom and liberty, it's about choice, and of course, I support vaccinations.

I think the real question is what is in them?

Are they truly approved?

And what are the potential consequences for taking them?

Those are questions we should lean into the science on and common sense on rather than a political line.

- [Mark] Mr.

Tracy?

- For too long, the opinions of elite medical professionals on matters of important health policy, like vaccine policy, have been characterized by many and certainly by them as settled science when in fact, it was just opinion, and it was opinion on one side of the spectrum versus conservative opinion.

And this reached the, I guess, epicenter during COVID, when we had those elites actually actively canceling and censoring opposing opinions like that of Jay Bhattacharya, who is now the CDC director, people that because they dared to express an opinion different from, for example, Dr.

Fauci.

I support the MAHA movement as well, and what RFK is trying to do, and questioning long-term policies that have been on autopilot for a long time.

And it doesn't mean that everything needs to be changed overnight, but it's good to question these things that affect the health of so many different people.

And I'm so glad to see that we're now hearing both sides of these important medical questions.

- [Mark] Thank you.

- All right, next question, we're going to Ms.

Long to begin.

Several hundred thousand Illinoisans saw premium increases with the expiration of the federal subsidies for people insured under the Affordable Care Act.

There's been no resolution in Congress to the stalemate over restoring some or all of those subsidies.

So I want to ask all of you, what concrete proposal do you have that members of both parties can support?

- Yeah, so one, we need to get to the redesign immediately, and we need someone who is familiar with not just the healthcare system, but also have been through and lived through as a healthcare practitioner the change in our reimbursement strategy, which I did, graduating with my degree in occupational therapy.

I stepped into the healthcare system when Prospective Payment System was happening and the disruption that that had.

Here are some recommendations I will make.

We need to get back to using HSAs for all Americans, health savings accounts, medical savings accounts, for those who are on Medicare.

We need to make sure that catastrophic healthcare is available in every state.

We need to ensure that at the federal level, because it's been outlawed in Illinois.

There are simply some people for whom catastrophic healthcare is the level of insurance that they need, so short-term medical and the like.

We need to make sure that the insurance policies are owned by the person and not tied to a job.

They should be fully portable by being owned by you, they should be guaranteed renewable So we keep that provision of the Affordable Care Act, where your previous conditions don't prevent you from actually getting health insurance.

And in addition to that, I would like to see the subsidies that we give to insurance companies be transferred to American citizens so that they are the ones who can purchase the insurance that they need rather than undergirding the bottom line of insurance companies.

- [Chris] Thank you, Mr.

Tracy?

- Healthcare inflation is completely out of hand.

It's in excess of three times the average inflation for everything.

It was triggered in part by the ACA, I call it the Unaffordable Care Act, and it's caused in part, because of this inflation, healthcare expenditures nationally to approximate 18% of GDP and GNP.

That is an unsustainable rate of expenditures that will bankrupt our nation and our people if we don't do something about it.

So that one of my top priorities, if elected as your next US senator, will be to work on fixing healthcare and reducing healthcare inflation.

The Democratic approach, of course, to this is not to reduce healthcare inflation through, like, enhanced price transparency, which we need, through market competition for health insurance policies, through more consumer choice and better drug price negotiation.

No, the Democrat solution to healthcare inflation and virtually everything about the cost of living is more government subsidies, and what does that do?

That, of course, increases inflation overall.

So there's a lot of work to be done.

It ideally would be done on a bipartisan basis, and may have to, you need 60 votes in the Senate, but it is critical for responding, you know, the deficit reduction, it is critical for the long-term financial future of this country.

- Thank you, and Mr.

Chlebek?

- I would say this with all honesty, that reason we got here is because pharma really took over the industry, and took over literally subsidizing procedures.

I want to tell you, a week ago, I went to a pharmacist to get my Ozempic, and I had to pay $650 for a small, you know, bottle.

I find out that exactly the full price would be $1,250, but you know what it costs in Europe?

$50.

So there's your problem.

These individuals of pharma are running a mark.

That's where the problem starts, because we may need to subsidize.

Actually, one of my key pillar points is provide free prescription drugs for seniors, disabled citizens, and veterans, but we have to be cognizant of the fact that we have to curtail this massive, not abuse, almost a stealing of federal funds for the purposes of preserving sometimes equality life for the elderly.

This is uncalled for.

We should look at it, and actually look more into the fraud that actually permeates the system, because if you look carefully, even these all kinds of claims that are created, that's done only for one purpose, many times, just to get the money into the system.

Many times, even unjust, non-existent claims are being made.

We have to stop that as well.

So subsidies are acceptable to point, but we have to eliminate fraud.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Okay, we have time for one more question, and we're gonna start with Mr.

Tracy.

In the last 50 years in Illinois, Democrats have won 13 US Senate elections and Republicans have won three.

What is your plan to attract independent and even democratic voters to increase your chances of winning?

- Yeah, you're correct.

We have not won a US senate seat since Mark Kirk beat Alexi Giannoulias in 2010, but that was an open seat, as it is now.

I'm optimistic about our chances of winning this, so it's gonna be a challenge, no doubt about it, in part because the three leading contenders on the other side are running in the Democrat primary, and they're running hard against each other, and all the energy in the Democrat Party is in the base, and the base is pretty gone, pretty far-left radical.

So whoever wins the Democrat primary is gonna have to run really hard left, and I think in so doing, that is going to open up the middle for the right Republican to win the swing voters that I think we need to win in order to win statewide again.

I remember very well the campaign of 2010 that Senator Kirk ran, because I was running for lieutenant governor at the time and spending a lot of time with him on the campaign trail, and by the way, Senator Kirk has endorsed me.

So he did it then, I think we can do it again with the right candidate who can appeal to independent and swing voters, and I think I'm that candidate.

Thank you, Mr.

Chlebek?

- I thank you for this question.

I think it's an excellent question, because when I look at these elections, I find this is about just raising money, raising funds, nothing about plans, programs, et cetera, it's just raising more money.

If we are gonna continue this route of classifying candidates because they are the best ones to raise the funds, or they are best lawyers to make periods on the ice, we are using the same game over and over again and we're expecting a different result.

That's against even probably the principle.

What we need to do is first of all make sure that we come with the plans, with programs that are actually crossing the boundaries of Democrats, Republicans, and the independent, and my programs just do that.

When you look at MAGNA agenda, it crosses all the boundaries.

If we don't have a program for the general elections, we are not gonna win, we are gonna lose.

We cannot be doing the same game over again expecting different results.

So that's why I'm offering people a chance to win it, and winning is by having a plan how to help the people, how to alleviate their suffering, and how to make sure that we are actually on the top.

We should be number one in this country, and we should be number one in the world in providing the best quality of life, the best services that we can.

We are the rich country, and we don't show it.

We are still playing the old playbook, let's stop it.

Let's look at what the candidate will do for you when elected.

I have the program, and I hope I'll win, thank you.

- [Mark] Thank you, and Ms.

Long?

- The reality is that most voters don't believe and trust in DC anymore.

We've lost the plot as elected officials, and I would even say, as the constituents.

Republicans have to win somewhere between 20, comfortably 30% of Cook County.

That's a significant portion of Chicago.

You have to have somebody who has the energy, the verve, the ability to communicate, to connect with people at that human level to make them feel that they've been seen for them to connect with you.

Undoubtedly, I'm that candidate.

I've done a lot of work in Cook County, I've done a lot of work in the Black American community.

I'm a country girl from Down South, right?

And so I resonate around the state, and more than that, you have to have solutions to the real problems that people have.

And how do you get to those solutions?

By having conversations with them regardless of their demographic, regardless of their geography.

And so the way Republicans can win is getting behind that candidate.

Unlike my opponent, I haven't been involved with the Republican Party forever.

However, with my consultation with the Trump campaign in 2023, I've seen changes.

With my "Newsweek" column, I've seen people come on board.

We need to unite this state, and we need to unite that nation, and nothing about the old way of doing things, the tried way of doing things, as you said, 13 and three, is gonna get us there.

We have to try something different, and it has to be something that's already been tested.

I am that candidate to deliver.

- Thank you.

- All right, candidates, we've now reached the end, and you can carry on this last question with your closing statements and explain to the viewers and listeners why they should vote for you.

Your closing statements will begin with Mr.

Chlebek.

- Okay.

Today matters, because the future of this country matters.

I'm Casey Chlebek, and I humbly ask you for the chance to bring real leadership and accountability to Washington.

Our communities deserve better, much better.

As a senator, I will fight for you each and every day to bring you prosperity and security by lower taxes, secure borders, safer communities, and care-free retirement.

I am not someone who gives promises, I'm someone who keeps the promises.

I'm not a career politician.

I'm a citizen who loves this country with a passion.

I'm ready to serve you.

I believe that the strong families, strong community, and the strong economy are the bedrock of thriving America.

This is why I push for policies that reward work, and when elected, I will tirelessly work to implement domestic policies of my seven-pillar MAGNA agenda, Make America the Greatest Nation Again, And they are abolishing all property taxes, IRS social security taxes, and abolishing IRS taxes on the retirement investment income, elimination of taxes for young Americans up to the age of 23 and 26 if they are students or married couples, five-year exemptions for new small businesses, free prescription drugs for seniors, disabled citizens, and veterans.

And just as President Trump, I work for you for free, and I work also tirelessly to improve our foreign relations by adopting the MULA agenda, Making US Loved Again.

When elected, I'll create even more stable families.

I will add additional pillar to my agenda to give tax credits for each year of marriage with a provision that divorce will nullify all your earned credit.

Together with America First mission, indeed, we will save this country as a constitutional republic for the future generations of Americans.

Please read my monthly newsletter, "Casey For US Senate" and vote for me on March 17th, thank you.

- Thank you, Ms.

Long?

- Yeah, so my name is Dr.

Pamela Denise Long.

I am a Republican since 2008, running for US Senate.

I am running because I'm a mom and a daughter who's had enough, and I wanna make sure that your grandchildren and mine inherit a nation that makes sense because it puts them first.

I am running on solutions.

I'm endorsed by Veterans for America First as well as from the Peoria County Republican Central Committee.

I didn't donate to anyone who endorsed me.

They endorsed me because my leadership is apparent to them and the policies and solutions that I've proposed resonates with them.

I am running to make sure that we have courage in Washington, DC.

No one in DC is my friend, no one in DC owes me a thing.

What I owe is to the American people to make sure that I close gaps in current federal legislation regulations, and I hold anyone accountable who is trampling on the Constitution, and to do that for all Americans.

Those who are interested in winning this general election against very polished, very experienced Democrats, say that I am the candidate to do that because of my crossover appeal and because of my ability to hold my own on a stage.

I hope that you check me out at my website, which is longforsenate2026.com.

That's L-O-N-G-F-O-R senate2026.com.

Make sure you hit the green button when you're there.

You can also find me on social media @longforsenate.

That's on TikTok, that's on X, that's on Facebook.

I have policies for every American, and for those who are in the establishment of the GOP, or even the establishment of the Dems side, I'm here to bring the power of the people to real solutions and to make our nation prioritize Americans again.

- Thank you, Mr.

Tracy?

- There are eight statewide public office holders in Illinois, including the two US Senate seats and this seat that we are running for.

All eight are now held by Democrats.

This is now an open seat, and it's one of the best opportunities since Senator Kirk won in 2010 to win a US Senate seat.

Winning this seat, however, will not be easy.

It will be an uphill dog fight, and it is certainly no job for a political novice, and everyone running for this seat in the Republican primary is a political novice except for me.

I am the most qualified candidate in this primary.

I know how to build and lead organizations.

I know how to build and lead diverse coalitions, which is a lot like herding cats.

I know how to raise campaign contributions.

A lot of people say it's not important.

The Democrats are gonna outspend this three to one, five to one, 10 to one, whatever.

You need to be able to raise money, I know how to do that.

I've done that for many, many campaigns for a long, long time, and as a lawyer, I know how to deal with adversaries.

And I have, like, 95% of the endorsements by people who make endorsements, I have.

Every Republican legislator who's endorsed has endorsed me.

Almost all the Republican organizations and institutions have endorsed me.

I have even been endorsed by the only Chicago-elected Republican official has endorsed me.

My home county, almost every elected Republican official in my home county of Sangamon has endorsed me.

None of the other five running for this position have any home county endorsements that I know of.

Unlike one of my opponents, too, I am not an advocate for reparations.

So if we wanna win this race, vote for Don Tracy for US Senate.

- Well, we wanna thank all of our candidates.

We are out of time, unfortunately, and we wanna remind voters the primary election is Tuesday, March 17th.

- And the general election is Tuesday, November 3rd.

Jenn?

- Thank you, Chris.

Thank you, Mark.

We want to recognize our presenting partners, The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria, and The League of Women Voters of Illinois for making this program possible, as well as each candidate who participated in the forum, thank you, and a special thank you to our viewers and listeners.

Please stay tuned for the Democratic primary forum, which will begin shortly.

If you miss parts of this program, you can stream it on demand through the PBS app or online at video.wtvp.org.

For WTVP-PBS, I'm Jenn Gordon, goodnight.

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