{"id":300607,"date":"2025-11-19T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/300607\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T06:00:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T06:00:16","slug":"house-admonishes-rep-jesus-chuy-garcia-over-ballot-maneuver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/300607\/","title":{"rendered":"House admonishes Rep. Jes\u00fas ‘Chuy’ Garc\u00eda over ballot maneuver"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Twenty-three congressional Democrats \u2014 including two fellow members from Illinois \u2014 joined with Republicans on Tuesday in favor of a resolution admonishing<\/a> U.S. Rep. Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda for using old-school tactics to clear the way for his own House successor.<\/p>\n

U.S. Reps. Bill Foster of Naperville and Eric Sorensen of Moline were the only Illinois Democrats to join Republicans in voting 236-183<\/a> for the resolution that chastises Garc\u00eda for his move two weeks ago in which he suddenly dropped out of his reelection race and cleared the way for his then-chief of staff, Patty Garc\u00eda, to succeed him. The resolution was introduced by a Democrat from the state of Washington who argued the move deprived voters in Illinois\u2019 heavily Democratic 4th Congressional District of a meaningful choice in the Democratic primary for his House seat next year.<\/p>\n

While the resolution will have no practical impact on the congressman\u2019s remaining time in office or\u00a0on Patty Garc\u00eda\u2019s efforts to take the seat, its passage is the latest\u00a0slap at the outgoing congressman<\/a> for his insider political maneuvering and could cast\u00a0a cloud over Patty Garc\u00eda, who is no relation to the congressman, should she win the office next year.<\/p>\n

Chuy Garc\u00eda originally filed for reelection but later changed his mind<\/a>. Instead of making a public announcement right away, the congressman helped Patty Garc\u00eda, who has since resigned as chief of staff, collect the necessary signatures to appear on the ballot, which were submitted at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an iconoclastic Democrat from Washington state, led the effort to reprimand the prominent Chicago lawmaker. During a debate Monday night, she insisted the vote was not about Garc\u00eda\u2019s long record of public service, but about how he decided to leave public life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consequences of subverting an election and choosing your successor are a slide toward a very ugly future for our country,\u201d Gluesenkamp Perez said. \u201cWe know about it. That conveys on us a responsibility, not just when it\u2019s politically convenient to condemn someone, but when it\u2019s in your own family. \u2026 Whether it hurts you or not, you have to have confidence that Americans will make the choice for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda defended<\/a> his last-minute decision, saying he had a change of heart after considering his own health, his wife\u2019s multiple sclerosis and their recent decision to adopt one of their grandchildren after the death of his daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting to stand here to debate my retirement,\u201d he told his colleagues, \u201cbut before any of us are members of Congress, we are husbands, we are grandfathers, we\u2019re sons, we\u2019re mothers, we\u2019re sisters. We\u2019re regular people. But life reminds us that our jobs come second to the people waiting for us at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most members of the Democratic caucus, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus<\/a>, rallied around Garc\u00eda. Many Democrats objected to having to deal with an intraparty dispute as soon as they returned from a nearly two-month House recess to end a government shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a California Democrat, called the motion \u201ccharacter assassination.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said House Democrats shouldn\u2019t be fighting each other at a time when the Trump administration cut food stamps during a government shutdown, was ordering military strikes on boats in international waters without congressional approval and was presiding over the rolling back of health care subsidies. House Democrats were also pushing for legislation requiring the Justice Department release documents related to its investigation of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, she noted, a measure that eventually passed the House<\/a> overwhelmingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are issues that are far more pressing and critical to Americans,\u201d she said. \u201cI was home in my district this weekend. Not one person asked me about Chuy Garc\u00eda. Not one person.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat who represents parts of the North Side of Chicago and many north suburbs, chafed at the idea that a lawmaker from outside the area was coming after Garc\u00eda, who had a long career in Chicago politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor someone who doesn\u2019t know about the city of Chicago and the role that (Garc\u00eda) has played, to find some outside idea that he has somehow cheated the city of Chicago, or the people of the city of Chicago: Are you kidding?\u201d Schakowsky said. \u201cThere has not been one single person that has stood up in Chicago and said that there should be some sort of punishment for our great friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patty Garc\u00eda declined to comment Tuesday on the resolution through a spokeswoman. But she defended the ballot maneuver in an interview with the Tribune last week at a restaurant in Chicago\u2019s Little Village neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Given the timing of the congressman\u2019s decision, there was little time to consider making a public announcement to would-be primary opponents, his former chief of staff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I mean, on that Friday, there\u2019s so many trains having to run,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Before declaring her own candidacy, she had to resign from her federal position and \u201cmake sure that my congressional team is in good hands,\u201d she said. At the same time, she was working with district staff and allies to help constituents whose families had been affected by federal immigration enforcement actions, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe immediate reaction was: \u2018Are we going to be OK not having you help the team, right?\u2019 \u2026 I\u2019ve been kind of (the) lead on these rapid response (efforts) with our team members,\u201d Garc\u00eda said.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the political organization also had to quickly put together plans to gather the necessary signatures to secure her spot on the ballot, she said, an effort that used 75 volunteers to collect about 2,500 signatures in just a couple of days.<\/p>\n

A spot on the 4th Congressional District primary ballot required only 697 valid voter signatures for the March primary election, but candidates typically collect several times that amount to ensure they can withstand any legal challenges to their petitions. The period for filing objections closed Nov. 10, without anyone challenging her petitions.<\/p>\n

Like her former boss, Garc\u00eda said their political organization thought other candidates already were circulating petitions to challenge the congressman, given that he faced a primary challenge two years ago<\/a>, although she acknowledged she wasn\u2019t aware of any specific candidates.<\/p>\n

And while she will be uncontested in the primary, Garc\u00eda noted she\u2019ll still face at least one Republican opponent in November, along with possible independent candidates.<\/p>\n

Progressive Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th,\u00a0has\u00a0said he is considering a bid, and Mayra\u00a0Mac\u00edas, formerly of the\u00a0group\u00a0Latino Victory\u00a0Project,\u00a0is said to be exploring a run.\u00a0The related\u00a0Latino Victory\u00a0Fund\u00a0has endorsed Gluesenkamp Perez in her reelection campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a misconception of like, \u2018Well, the race is done. You\u2019re it,\u2019\u201d Garc\u00eda said. \u201cAnd the reality is, it isn\u2019t. I have an endorsement from the congressman, and it\u2019s that, it\u2019s an endorsement, and I still have to run a campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to joining the congressman\u2019s staff in 2019, Patty Garc\u00eda worked for groups including the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund. She earned a doctorate in educational policy studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2011.<\/p>\n

Petrella reported from Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Twenty-three congressional Democrats \u2014 including two fellow members from Illinois \u2014 joined with Republicans on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[132189,23,157,156442,156444,3,156443,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-300607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-2026-election","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-jesus-chuy-garcia","12":"tag-maneuver","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-patty-garcia","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}