Credit: longforsenate2026.com
Candidate Dr. Pamela “Denise” Long
A little-known candidate seeking the Republican nomination for Richard Durbin’s U.S. Senate seat says the GOP needs to adopt a “big tent” mentality that encourages bipartisan cooperation and prioritizes substantive solutions over partisan rhetoric.
Pamela “Denise” Long, 52, a longtime contributor to Newsweek and Real Clear Politics, is leveraging her experience as a journalist, political analyst and adjunct professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to carve out a space in the crowded field to replace Durbin. Durbin, 80, a Springfield Democrat, is retiring from Congress after five terms in the Senate and seven in the House.
Long says she built her experience by dissecting complex policy issues in a bipartisan manner, particularly those affecting Black voters, immigration, economic mobility and environmental protections.
She has challenged both major parties to reconsider their outreach strategies. On her side, she’s ascribing to so-called Big Tent Republicanism, which says that certain conservative positions, such as abortion bans or transgender issues, while important to Republicans, push away moderates and liberals open to cooperation on issues that affect nearly every resident, such as property taxes, gerrymandering and budgeting. Long said she wants her candidacy to reflect a focus on those widespread national issues while offering bipartisan criticism and praise when it is called for.
“For me, I champion President Donald Trump when he takes actions that align with the principles of conservatism and constitutionality,” she said. “When he deviates from that, as with (former President Joe) Biden and any other candidate, I call those things out. So, I’m not partisan in that way. My focus is on the best interest of the nation.”
Long said one example bringing conservative and liberal issues together is her support for increasing environmental protection in the U.S., but implementing it in issues that bring attention to conservative interests.
“Being able to take something like environmental policy and be able to apply it to these modern-day issues like immigration is one method to increase environmental protections without incurring too much animosity from any one side,” Long said.
Long said she wants to see more investment in urban infrastructure that has been abandoned, rather than support Trump’s plans to allow development and commercial usage of federally protected lands, including national parks.
“One thing which unnerves me is how much of our urban infrastructure has degraded and has just been left rotting in many cities, and I would like to see more development,” said Long. “Development of the dilapidated infrastructure that already exists rather than developing our national parks and green space, I think that could bring more jobs to urban residents.”
As a Black woman, Long sees the persistent issues facing African American communities and agrees with the conservative sentiment against handouts or excessive support. But she argues that giving job opportunities, career advancements and a general ability to move out of poverty is a large part of that attitude as well.
“I think it is important for Black Americans to hear that our federal government is looking for ways to pull them into the workforce,” said Long. “It’s not handholding as much as it is recruitment and making sure that folks realize that they’re pointing to avenues leading to jobs. We must look at recruitment, retention, development and promotion. At what point do we start thinking about the current and potential future state of our economy and what it’s going to look like? Do we somehow work to offer apprenticeships to students in middle school, shadowing perhaps in high school?”
Long says her time as an occupational therapist has shifted her view of prisoners and felons to be viewed as people first, criminals second. She supports the idea of low-level and nonviolent criminals having the ability to either work off their crimes or build themselves up in prison to better support their rehabilitation outside of confinement.
While she did clarify violent criminals and felons like murderers and rapists require more nuance based on the case, the goal is to produce a rehabilitated member of society. Helping former convicts get their lives together after their due punishment is the way to do that.
“Sequestering a human being from society is a solid punishment by itself; you shouldn’t have to be faced with rape, beatings or dehumanizing treatment,” said Long. “You should be sequestered, rehabilitated, strengthened and developed so that you can be moved forward into society and hit the ground running to be productive. I also think that they should maintain their right to vote. They need to be engaged with the society that they’re going to be coming back into. People who are engaged with society and see a path forward and find a vision for themselves, sometimes for the first time, are less likely to offend.”
Logan Bricker recently graduated from University of Illinois Springfield with a master’s degree from the UIS Public Affairs Reporting program. He has been working this semester as an intern for Illinois Times.