Chuy García

Jesús G. "Chuy" García (born April 12, 1956) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party. He is the member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 4th district since January 3, 2019. He is the first Mexican-American to be elected to the United States Congress from the Midwest. He ran for Mayor of Chicago twice in 2015 and 2023. He is a progressive.

Early life
García was born in Mexico in the state of Durango. Garcia worked at the Legal Assistance Foundation from 1977 to 1980 as he worked towards a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Political career
Garcia was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1986. He became the first Mexican-American member of the Illinois State Senate in 1992. In 2010, Garcia won election to the 7th district Cook County Board of Commissioners. After his election, Cook Country President Toni Preckwinkle appointed him as floor leader. García is a progressive and a reformer. He supports Preckwinkle, and was a supporter of former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.

2015 Chicago mayoral candidacy

Garcia was a candidate for Mayor of Chicago in 2015. He finished second in the 2015 mayoral election on February 24. This forced a runoff vote between him and the mayor at that time, Rahm Emanuel. He lost the run-off election with 44.28% of the votes.

U.S. House of Representatives elections (since 2019)
On November 27, 2017, 6 days before the last day to file petitions to run for office, Congressman Luis Gutierrez pulled his petition for re-election in the 2018 race. This effectively ended his career in Congress. The next day, Garcia said he wanted to run for Congress. During Gutierrez's press conference, he endorsed Garcia for the position. The next day, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Garcia.

He won the Democratic nomination in March 2018. He then won the general election against Republican Mark Lorch in November 2018.

In February 2020, he announced his support for Bernie Sanders' second presidential candidacy.

On November 3, 2025, he announced he would not seek reelection in 2026 and retire. There was something wrong with the timing of his retirement. His chief of Staff, Patty García, was the only one who filed to run for the Democratic primary. In mid-November, the House voted 236 to 183 and decided that his timing of retirement was wrong.

2023 Chicago mayoral candidacy

In November 2022, Garcia said he would run for mayor of Chicago again, in the 2023 election. He challenged the mayor at the time, Lori Lightfoot. He lost in the first round of voting in February 2023, coming in fourth place.

References

Other websites
 Detailed article on García's 1998 primary defeat 
 Cook County Commissioner website
 Campaign website 

Category:1956 births
Category:Living people
Category:United States representatives from Illinois
Category:Chicago City Council members
Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Category:State legislators of the United States
Category:People from Durango
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:Mexican activists
Category:American political activists
Category:Mexican politicians
Category:Activists from Chicago
Category:Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners