Whitfield Harrington Jr. is running for U.S. Senate in Illinois as an independent candidate helping to form the American Center Party. He faces Don Tracy, a Republican, and Juliana Stratton, a Democrat, in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.

Asked why he is running, Harrington said in our candidate 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 affiliation: "I am an independent … helping to form the American Center Party, a new party dedicated to practical, center-focused leadership," Harrington said in our questionnaire.

Family: "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," Harrington said in our questionnaire.

Education: "I earned my degree in political science from Delta State University in Mississippi …" Harrington said in our questionnaire.

Experience and public service

He has no prior elected 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 …" Harrington said in our questionnaire.

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 …"

On the issues

Top priority — cost of living: "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," Harrington said in our questionnaire. He said he would introduce a Family Affordability Act: "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: "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. I have had Direct Primary Care myself, at $75 a month, and it works," Harrington said in our questionnaire.

Federal spending: "I would redirect ten to twenty percent of the defense budget, on a two-year cycle, into rebuilding our own infrastructure, bases, roads, bridges, rails, the power grid, and strategic stockpiles," Harrington said in our questionnaire. He said he would also "create a Cabinet-level anti-fraud department to recover the estimated $233 billion to $521 billion lost to fraud every year." He added: "I would not raise taxes on working families."

Immigration: "Congress should enforce the laws we have, firmly and with dignity. … 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," Harrington said in our questionnaire.

Critical differences from opponents: "I am the only candidate in this race who is not owned by either party. … I have also written it all down. My platform, Renovate the American Dream, tells you exactly what I will do on energy, food, housing, health care, jobs, and government reform, so you can hold me to it," Harrington said in our questionnaire.

Harrington's full platform is available on his campaign website.