Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García is not expected to continue his reelection bid in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District after his chief of staff filed nominating petitions at the deadline, closing off entry to other Democratic candidates and leaving her as the only other Democrat positioned on the ballot.
Multiple reports — including the Chicago Sun-Times, Politico, and The Hill — confirm Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, 69, is not planning to run for reelection, despite previously filing petitions with the Illinois State Board of Elections on October 27.
According to those reports, chief of staff Patty Garcia filed her own nominating petitions on Monday at 5 p.m., the deadline for entry, leaving the Democratic primary ballot with only two names unless Rep. Garcia formally withdraws — himself, and his chief of staff. Politico noted that individuals close to the congressman do not expect him to continue his bid.
If Rep. Garcia pulls his petitions, Patty Garcia — who is not related to him — would be the only Democrat on the ballot in a blue West Side district.
Some Democrats claimed the maneuver resembled a machine-style “coronation” instead of an open primary. Republican Lupe Castillo and Working Class Party candidate Ed Hershey also filed to run for the seat. In last November’s election, García defeated Castillo and Hershey.
García has represented the 4th District since 2019, after previously serving as an alderman, state senator, Cook County commissioner, and candidate for mayor twice, including the 2015 race where his first run drew major labor backing and positioned him as a major figure in the progressive movement.
Last summer, Breitbart News described the rapid nomination of then–Vice President Kamala Harris as a “coronation” after millions of Democratic primary voters had already cast ballots for President Joe Biden, highlighting that the accelerated process eliminated a contested primary once the filing window closed.
Breitbart News has extensively documented García’s alignment with radical priorities. Last month, García responded to concerns about how Biden’s inflow of new arrivals was affecting cities including Chicago and New York by saying “I think some of it is xenophobia,” and other Democrats also played down the severity of the strain by suggesting the situation was being exaggerated. In May, Garcia’s office hosted the father of the man accused in an antisemitic murder case as a guest to a Trump presidential address.
Last year, when former President Biden mispronounced Laken Riley’s name during the State of the Union, García reacted on MSNBC by saying “I wouldn’t have used the word illegal” and criticized that label being applied to the Venezuelan illegal alien who was charged with murdering Riley.
When García ran for mayor in Chicago in 2023, his campaign documents included proposals to allow illegal immigrants to vote in certain city elections and pledged that “all services and benefits provided by the city will be available to all Chicagoans, regardless of immigration status.”
García was involved in a Soros-linked “abolish ICE” legislative push, where he joined Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley in a draft letter calling ICE’s monitoring program “onerous surveillance” and urging Biden to “de-escalate” enforcement and even eliminate tracking of illegal immigrants.
Patty Garcia became chief of staff in 2023 after serving as district director since 2019, with prior work in candidate training programs for Latino and Black policymakers.
