Whitfield Harrington Jr. is running for U.S. Senate in Illinois as an independent candidate under the American Center Party in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. Don Tracy (Republican) and Juliana Stratton (Democratic) are also in the race.

Asked why he is running, Harrington said in our questionnaire: "Washington is broken and both parties helped break it. Illinois families are paying more for everything and getting less. I am running as an independent to govern from the center, not the extremes, and to help build the American Center Party."

Candidate information

Party: Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I am an independent. I am running as an independent candidate for the United States Senate in Illinois while helping to form the American Center Party, a new party dedicated to practical, center-focused leadership. I am not a Democrat and not a Republican."

Family: Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I was born and raised in Belzoni, Mississippi, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the 20th of 21 children. My parents made certain we were shaped by family, faith, and the civil rights struggle. My father was a pastor and a carpenter who also cut hair, farmed, and drove a school bus to feed 21 children. He chaired the Humphreys County NAACP for seven years, taking the post after the first chairman was assassinated and the second was shot."

Education: Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I earned my degree in political science from Delta State University in Mississippi, where I studied how government works and why it so often fails the people it is meant to serve."

Experience and public service

Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I have never held elected or appointed public office. … My only experience in an elected role came in 1997, when the American Legion's Boys State program elected me Governor of Mississippi Boys State. That same year I was chosen as one of Mississippi's two senators to Boys Nation in Washington, where I studied how the federal government works."

Asked about his work history, Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I serve as a pastor in Chicago, a ministry that reaches people across states, countries, and continents. Before that I worked in the financial industry, inside banks and insurance companies. I later ran my own insurance practice, where I sat on the other side of the desk from families trying to protect what little they had."

On the issues

Cost of living (top priority): Harrington said in our questionnaire: "The single most important issue is the cost of living. Families in Illinois are paying more for groceries, gas, rent, and health care, and Washington keeps arguing about who to blame instead of what to do. I would introduce a Family Affordability Act as my first bill. It would require banks to make small-dollar mortgages available for homes under $100,000 with the commission rolled into the loan, ban excessive speculation in energy markets … end tariffs on food, and make the first year of community college free."

Health care: Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I support Direct Primary Care, where you pay your doctor a low monthly fee, sometimes as little as $100 for an individual or $300 for a family, for unlimited visits with no insurance middleman and no surprise bills. … My plan forgives student loans for doctors who open Direct Primary Care clinics in underserved communities, urban and rural …"

Federal spending: Harrington said in our questionnaire: "I would create a Cabinet-level anti-fraud department to recover the estimated $233 billion to $521 billion lost to fraud every year. … I would not raise taxes on working families."

Immigration: Harrington said in our questionnaire: "Congress should enforce the laws we have, firmly and with dignity. Secure the border with whatever each sector needs … Deport criminals. End family separations, because a child who cannot identify themselves in a foreign language must never be lost from their parents. Make legal immigration easier than illegal entry, because today the opposite is true."

The race is statewide. Harrington's full platform is on his campaign website.