Third‑party Illinois candidates allege collusion over WTTW debate exclusions
Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Collin Corbett and American Center Party U.S. Senate candidate Whitfield Harrington were excluded from the only televised debates for their Illinois races on Chicago‑area station WTTW on Tuesday, October 18, 2026, and both allege that the exclusions resulted from collusion that silenced third‑party voices.
The controversy centers on WTTW’s eligibility rules, which require a candidate to demonstrate at least 15 percent public support in a post‑primary poll conducted by an independent outlet. The station briefly loosened its requirements after no public polling had been released, but a poll published by Chicago News Weekly shortly thereafter showed Corbett with only six percent support among 569 respondents.
Corbett said the poll’s sponsor was not independent, noting that the poll was paid for by a national firm and that Governor J.B. Pritzker’s campaign placed full‑page ads in the magazine that ran the poll.
“I was never going to make the debate stage. Even when WTTW relented and loosened a couple of their restrictions and it seemed like there might be a ray of sunshine,” Corbett said. “Somehow they magically had money to pay a national pollster to poll not just this race, but all the statewide races. It’s a coincidence that J.B. Pritzker had the back page full‑page ad in the last two editions of their magazine.”
The WTTW forum rules, posted on the station’s website, explicitly prohibit any candidate, campaign, political party, political action committee, or any person or entity that financially supports a campaign from commissioning the poll. Corbett argued that the poll’s funding violated that clause, calling the station’s late rule change “moot” because the poll’s methodology was compromised.
Harrington’s campaign released a statement echoing Corbett’s concerns, pointing to the same advertising ties between the governor’s campaign and the magazine that published the poll. The Senate candidate was not listed among the poll’s results, which also recorded 15 percent of respondents as undecided.
The scheduled debate, featuring incumbent U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s seat contenders Democrat Julianna Stratton and Republican Don Tracy alongside Harrington, will air on WTTW at 8 p.m. Tuesday and be simulcast on the Blue Room Stream.
Both Corbett and Harrington say they will continue to press WTTW and election officials for inclusion, indicating that the dispute may move beyond the televised forums and into public and legal challenges.
